The Willows (Re-upload!)
by Don'tForgetTheNotes
Summary: When eight of the StarKids travel to a remote house in order to renovate it, they encounter things far more sinister than they could have ever imagined. Contains Breredith, Laurwalk and Donoblim.
1. First Impressions

_Hi guys! I'm finally able to re-upload The Willows! I took it down as I sent an adapted screenplay version of it to the BBC but they wish to take it no further that the initial first ten pages read through at this time so I'm putting the fanfic back up! I know people liked it :')_

_I do not own the characters, they are based on members of Team StarKid. Any relationships stated are purely for the sake of the story and I am in no way implying that they are real._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Meredith stared out of the window as the car wound its way along the narrow road. Dense forest hugged the road on either side and it had been a long time since they had passed another car, this place really was isolated. She turned round and looked into the back of the car as Lauren moaned.

"Why do I have to sit in the middle?!"

She laughed slightly as she watched Lauren kick Joe's leg in an attempt to get herself more space. In the back was Julia, Lauren and Joe and driving was Brian. Meredith looked at Lauren for a moment more before saying what they had been saying for the past 4 hours.

"It's because you're the smallest Lo."

"But why couldn't I have gone in the other car? There's only 3 of them in there!"

That was very true, following in a car behind them was Denise, Jeff and Jaime. However it wasn't like they had space in their car as the available seats had been filled with stuff they'd need at the house. It was a long drive back into town so they were bringing as much as they could with them.

They were going to a lake house that Brian's parents had recently bought as a vacation home. No one had lived in it for decades after its last inhabitants had left in rather a hurry. His parents had hired them to come out here and give it a lick of paint and assemble the furniture that was being sent up.

"Are we there yet?"

"Lauren if you start with that again, I swear to God you'll be walking the rest of the way."

Brian glanced at Lauren in his rear view mirror and saw she was glaring at him. He shook his head before looking at Meredith. They had to be there soon, he didn't think he could cope with being in the car much longer. Then he noticed something out of Meredith's window. The forest was thinning and through the trees he could see a lake and then, as if out of nowhere, a house.

"Guys look!"

"Is that it?"

"It looks like the photos my mom sent me."

He looked at the house a moment more before looking back at the road. Although the road was made of concrete, it was cracked and the road markings were faded. This really was a seldom used road. They carried on down the road but Brian slowed as he saw a turn off. There were a pair of rusted iron gates and above the gates were the words, 'The Willows.' Yep, this was it.

He leant in front of Meredith and opened the glove compartment. Inside, was a brown envelope. Brian opened it and pulled out a set of keys.

"Do you want to go and open it?"

Brian smiled at Meredith until she sighed and took the keys. Everyone watched as she slowly walked over to the gate and looked up at it. He held his breath as Meredith unlocked the gates and pushed them open before standing to the side. Brian put his car in drive and drove through.

Denise smiled at Meredith as they drove through before slowing down again. She could see where the name of the house came from, weeping willows lined the driveway. A moment later Meredith walked passed their car and got back into the one in front. The two cars set off again and up along the driveway until it bore round to the left.

She gasped as they pulled up to the house. The house was 3 stories tall and was an imposing structure.

"This isn't what I imagine when I hear lake house."

She had to agree with Jaime on that. The house didn't exactly scream home sweet home. Denise brought her car to a stop next to Brian's and they all got out.

"How much did your folks pay for this Brian?"

"They got it really cheap because no one else wants it."

"I can see why..."

She glanced over at Jeff as he muttered under his breath. Surely with a lick of paint the house would look better...she hoped. Denise followed the others up the steps and onto the wrap around veranda. It really was a house right out of the Victorian era. The wood of the veranda creaked loudly as 8 pairs of feet walked over it.

Lauren walked along the veranda to the end and looked out over the lake as they waited for Brian to find the right key. It was very peaceful up here, creepily quiet, but peaceful. She couldn't quite believe that someone had once used this as their full time home. There was the sound of hinges squeaking behind her and she turned to see Brian had gotten the door open. She looked out over the lake again before following the others inside.

If the outside of the house looked creepy, the inside was a whole other level. There was hardly any furniture in the house and the few objects left were covered in thick dust sheets. The air was so thick with dust that there was almost a visible haze. Lauren sneezed as dust went up her nose.

"Well this is nice."

"Come on guys! We knew it would be a wreck! We're being paid to bring it up to standards remember!"

Everyone mumbled in agreement to Brian but it was clear everyone wasn't sharing in his enthusiasm. Lauren walked through into what she guessed was the sitting room and looked around. The room was empty, except for a sheet covered chair in the corner and an old photograph above the fireplace. She walked over to it and squinted through the grime covered glass. It looked like a family photo. A father, a mother and three children, two boys and a girl.

"What are you looking at?"

She jumped as she felt a pair of hands wrap around her middle. Lauren smiled as she recognised the voice as Joe's. He kissed her lightly on the neck as she placed her hands over his.

"This photograph, it seems a very personal thing to leave."

"Well Brian said they left in a hurry."

"Yeah…"

* * *

Brian walked into the kitchen to find Jaime and Denise unpacking all the food they had brought with them. Joe and Jeff with unpacking the rest of their stuff from the cars and Lauren, Julia and Meredith were working out sleeping arrangements. He tried flicking on the light switch but nothing happened. His parents had said there was electricity but that it came from a generator in the basement.

"Hey Brian? Where should we put all this?"

He looked round and saw Joe was holding all the tools they'd brought. Brian looked between Joe and the basement for a moment before looking back.

"One second. Hey Jaime?"

He waited for Jaime to stop what she was doing before looking up at him.

"Yeah?"

"Do you mind going down into the basement and turning on the generator? We need electricity before it gets dark."

"Erm…okay."

"Oh and turn on the furnace too."

Jaime returned Brian's smile before watching him leave the room. She looked back at Denise who was smiling at her.

"Do you even know what you're doing?"

"No, but it can't be that hard!"

She smiled at Denise before picking out a flashlight from a box of general supplies they'd brought and walking over to the basement door.

Jaime clicked on her flashlight before slowly walking down the steps into the basement. It was cold down here. She shone the flashlight over the various bits of junk in the room before settling on a large black shape. The generator. She walked over to it and inspected the switches. Which one did she press?

"Denise! There are so many buttons! What do I press?"

"There should be a button that says on/off, Jaime."

She looked closely at all the buttons and then low and behold, there was one that said on/off. Jaime sighed and glared back up the stairs before pressing the button. The generator rattled before making a humming sound.

"Has that worked?"

"Yeah! Now you need to turn on the furnace."

"Wait, what?"

"Light the pilot light. Turn on the gas and light the pilot light."

She looked at the furnace and squinted her eyes. This was even more complicated than the generator! Jaime sighed, why couldn't Denise have just come down here and done this? It seemed she knew what she was doing. She rubbed away the dust and found the gas valve, it was set to off.

She jumped as she felt what could only be described as a cold breath on her neck. Jaime looked round but there was no one there. That was weird. She finally looked back at the furnace. Did she turn the valve to pilot or on?

"Denise! What do I do?"

"Turn it to pilot. You should see a little opening, but a lit match into there, it'll light the pilot and once it's burning. Turn the valve to on."

Jaime nodded slowly before looking around for matches. There was so much stuff down here, to say there was hardly anything left in the rest of the house there was so much down here. She found a box of matches on a shelf and carried them back over to the furnace. She turned the valve to pilot and heard a soft hissing which she guessed was the gas. Just as she was about to strike a match, she heard a rustle behind her.

"Hello?"

She shone the flashlight around the room. There was no one there. Jaime shook herself, she was being silly. She turned back to the furnace and placed the flashlight on top of it. She finally lit a match but dropped it as in the same second, the flashlight had rolled off the furnace and hit the floor. The room plunged into darkness as it smashed.

"Shoot!"

She had dropped the matches in her panic and fell to her knees to try and find them. Her hands fumbled across the ground until at last, her hand came to rest on the box. And that's when she heard it. It sounded like dripping water.

"Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream."

What the hell was that? It sounded like a little girl singing but it was slow and distorted and it seemed to be coming from quite close by. Jaime held her breath as she slowly opened the box and pulled out a match. There was something in the room with her…and it was standing right by her. Jaime couldn't see it but she knew it was there.

She knew she should shout up to the others but she felt like she couldn't speak. Jaime couldn't even more, all she could do was slowly strike the match. The sudden burst of light illuminated the space around her but all Jaime could see was the pair of black buckle boots and the bottom of the ankle length grey dress of the thing stood next to her. In the next second, a gust of wind blew out Jaime's match.


	2. First Night

_I do not own the characters, they are based on members of Team StarKid. Any relationships stated are purely for the sake of the story and I am in no way implying that they are real._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Denise looked up from where she was putting tin cans into the cupboard as Jaime came back into the kitchen. She smiled at her and Jaime smiled back slightly before leaning against the counter. Denise went back to her task but looked back at Jaime as she started humming.

"What are you humming?"

This seemed to make Jaime stop and she blinked slightly. Denise stared at her as Jaime slowly brought her eyes up to hers.

"Oh I was humming? Sorry I hadn't noticed. It just that nursery rhyme, Row your boat is just stuck in my head."

She smiled slightly before slowly looking away. That was a funny thing to get stuck in her head but Denise didn't question it any further as Jaime moved over to the window and started humming it again. She watched her for a moment more before shaking her head and going back to putting all their supplies away.

* * *

Lauren put down a bowl of chips and another of popcorn on the floor before sitting down. They were all gathered in one of the bedrooms ready to watch a movie on Brian's laptop. It was dark now and with no other lighting outside the house, it was pitch black. She didn't like looking out of the windows for long, the lights from the house caused perfect reflections in the windows and they made Lauren feel uneasy for some reason. They all watched as Brian unzipped his folder of DVDs.

"Right guys, what do we want to watch?"

"Horror!"

She looked round as Jeff and Joe shouted in unison. The girls all voiced their disgust at the choice and Jaime seemed positively terrified at the thought. The boys booed their opinion and a full scale debate started. Brian finally got them to shut up and Lauren watched as he flicked through.

"How about E.T.?"

"Fiiinnnneee."

Everyone spoke in unison before watching Brian put it into his laptop. Brian turned off the ceiling light so the room was only lit by the two lamps they had brought with them. Lauren leant against Joe and got comfortable as the movie started.

Meredith had managed to get the room's one and only chair so wasn't sat on the floor like the others. However as Brian came over to her, she stood up and let him sit down before sitting on his knee. She leant against his shoulder and settled in for the movie. She'd always liked E.T., ever since she was a kid.

It was about an hour into the movie when she looked round at Brian as he nudged her. Meredith followed where he was looking and saw Jaime was curled up on the floor fast asleep. As she looked around, it seemed the others had noticed her too and were muttering to themselves. They all stopped as Jaime squirmed in her sleep before becoming still again. Meredith held her breath as Jeff slowly got up and crept towards her.

"Don't be mean Jeff."

She looked over at Denise as she whispered a warning. Everyone held their breath as Jeff knelt down next to Jaime. He stopped right above her face before coughing slightly. The cough caused Jaime to open her eyes slightly.

"Good morning Miss Beatty."

Jaime's ear-splitting scream erupted into the room. Jeff scrambled backwards in shock. The scream was so loud, Lauren clamped her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut. However she could still tell the lights had started flashing and then with a loud bang, they all went out and Jaime stopped screaming. Lauren felt Joe's arms around her waist but as she opened her eyes, she couldn't see anything. There was silence in the room, it wasn't just the lights that had gone out, it was all the power. She could hear people breathing but everyone seemed too scared to speak.

She turned as the bright light of a phone suddenly appeared. Julia was using her cell as a flashlight and in an instant, others followed suit. Lauren shone hers to where she thought she remembered Jaime being, but she wasn't there.

"Where's Jaime?"

Lauren could feel herself shaking. Where was Jaime? Her cell flashed over Julia and Jeff as he moved back to Denise and then to Brian and Meredith on the chair. But no Jaime. Everyone was silent but the silence was deafening.

"Jaime?"

Meredith held her breath as Julia whispered Jaime's name. The lights of people's cells shone around the room and cast distorted shadows. She was gripping onto Brian's shirt and his arms were tight around her waist. She suddenly looked over the back of the chair. Although she couldn't see anything, it felt like there was something behind them. Meredith stared into the corner of the room, there was…there was something there… Suddenly a cell light went across the space and Meredith screamed and almost fell off Brian's knee. Jaime was stood in the corner of the room.

She burrowed her face into Brian's shirt as her whole body shook. How had Jaime gotten there? No one could move that fast and without any noise. Brian rubbed her back but it didn't stop Meredith from crying.

Julia slowly stood up and walked over to Jaime. She was staring straight ahead and even in the light from her cell, Julia could see she was shaking. Finally, she reached her and held both her arms and at last Jaime looked at her.

"Are you okay Jai?"

"That was just really mean."

"I know."

She pulled Jaime into a hug and held her tightly. Jaime was clinging to her and shaking like a leaf. Julia didn't want to think about what had just happened. There had to be a logical reason as to why the lights had just gone out, a fuse must have gone. She looked over her shoulder at her friends.

"Do some of you wanna go downstairs and find the circuit board?"

"We'll go."

She nodded as Denise spoke and stood up before pulling Jeff to his feet. Julia watched as Denise picked up a flashlight before they left the room.

Denise slipped her hand into Jeff's as they slowly walked down the stairs. A strong wind had picked up and was causing the house to creak. They stopped at the bottom of the stairs and Denise shone the torch around. After a moment she looked at Jeff.

"Where do you think the circuit board will be?"

"I dunno, they're normally in the kitchen."

They headed there and stopped in the kitchen doorway. It was so dark. Jeff led the way into the kitchen and over to the broom closet.

"They're normally in stuff like this."

She held her breath as Jeff slowly turned the handle and opened the door. He was right, on the wall was a small, dust covered box. Denise handed the torch to Jeff as he opened the box and inspected the fuses. She looked around as she heard a soft tap behind her. It had sounded like a footstep.

"Here we go, the main circuit breaker has flipped."

Denise turned back around as Jeff flipped the switch and lights came on in the house again. She smiled at Jeff as he looked at her triumphantly but this smile faded as she noticed movement behind Jeff.

"Look out!"

She pulled him out of the way just in time as a large plank of wood that was at the back of the closet fell out. They had fallen to the floor as Denise had pulled them away and for a moment they both stared at the wood. How had that fallen out? She looked at Jeff before they both slowly stood up.

"We must have dislodged it."

"Yeah."

They looked at it a moment more before they moved forward and started putting it back into the closet. It seemed neither of them could talk anymore on what had just happened so they didn't.

Now the lights were back on, Lauren and Julia helped Jaime to their room. Julia had insisted that they had a boys room and a girls room. No couples. Lauren flicked through her book as Jaime slowly looked through her bag for her pyjamas. Finally it seemed she found them as she shuffled out of the room towards the bathroom carrying her pyjamas and wash bag. Lauren glanced up at Julia as soon as Jaime was out of sight.

"What the hell happened?"

"Jeff scared her."

"I got that, I was referring to the freaking lights going out and Jaime seemingly jumping across the room."

They looked round as Meredith and Denise came into the room. Lauren watched as they sat down on their sleeping bags before looking back at Julia. However it seemed Julia didn't have an answer. What had happened couldn't just be explained away. Lauren was getting a very bad feeling about this house…

Awhile later and all the girls were in their pyjamas and ready for bed. Lauren skipped out of the room to meet Joe. She looped her arms around his neck as he put his around her waist. She rested her head on his chest for a moment before looking up at him.

"I don't like it here."

She gazed up at Joe as he looked thoughtful for a moment before lifting up his hand to tuck her hair behind her ear.

"We just need to get used to it, and once we start decorating and getting the furniture in, it'll be great!"

Lauren nodded at this but she wasn't convinced. There was something not right about this house and she didn't think she wanted to stick around to find out what it was. She said goodnight to Joe but slowly walking back into her room. The four other girls were already in their sleeping bags. Jaime had been quick to fall asleep so Denise, Julia and Meredith were talking quietly to each other. Lauren looked at Jaime for a moment. She seemed so peaceful now but what had happened had been so unlike Jaime but she seemed okay now. She took some comfort in this as she unzipped her sleeping bag and climbed in.

She listened to the girls talk for a while but didn't join in with them. Lauren was tired, she snuggled into her sleeping bag and soon she was drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Brian slowly opened his eyes and rubbed them before looking around. It was still dark outside which meant it wasn't morning yet. He reached for his iPhone and checked the time. It was 3:02am. Yep, it wasn't morning yet. Why was he awake? He eyes were fairly adjusted to the gloom so he looked around the room. He could hear the deep breathing of Joe and Jeff and apart from that, there was no other noise but the soft creaks of the house. This place wasn't so bad.

He had just closed his eyes, in the hopes of getting some more sleep when he heard a creak from out in the hallway. It sounded like someone was out there. A moment later there was a click and then the hallway was brighter. Someone was in the bathroom. Brian suddenly shook himself for thinking the creak was anything more than one of his friends. But then he stopped, the hallway was still lit from the light, meaning the person hadn't closed the door. He waited to hear any sounds you'd normally expected to hear from a bathroom but there was only silence. And then the bathroom light went out again.

He listened for more footsteps of someone walking back to their room, but there was nothing. Brian shook his head, it was too late to be thinking about this. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind and soon, he was drifting back off to sleep.


	3. Spring Cleaning

_I do not own the characters, they are based on members of Team StarKid. Any relationships stated are purely for the sake of the story and I am in no way implying that they are real._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Julia padded into the kitchen and set about finding herself a glass before taking it over to the sink. As it filled up she looked out of the window and what she saw made her stop. The kitchen was on the side of the house that overlooked the lake. There was a small jetty that went out a little into the lake and stood on the end of the jetty, was Jaime. Even from here Julia could tell she was in her pyjamas.

She stared at her for a moment. Jaime was facing away from the house and looking out across the lake. She was perfectly still, like a statue. Julia felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. There was something not quite right here. Forgetting her water, she walked over to the backdoor and turned the handle. It was unlocked. Julia opened it and stepped out onto the veranda.

"Jaime?"

She shouted across but Jaime still didn't turn around. Julia looked back into the house for a moment. Should she get someone else? No, there was nothing to worry about. Jaime probably just had her earphones in. Julia set off across the overgrown garden towards Jaime. She stopped at the end of the jetty and gazed at Jaime. From here she could see that Jaime didn't have her earphones in, she also didn't have any shoes on.

"Jaime?"

Still Jaime didn't turn around. Julia was officially creeped out now. She looked down at the jetty. It was made of old, rotted wood. It didn't look safe to walk on, how had Jaime gotten right out to the end? Julia took a deep breath before slowly stepping out onto the jetty. Jaime was so still. Finally Julia had made it so she was almost level with her. Her heart had been in her mouth as she'd jumped over the rather large holes in the jetty.

"Jaime what are…"

"The lake's really calm today isn't it?"

Jaime turned to look at Julia. Why did she look so worried? All she'd wanted to do was come out and look at the lake. It was reflecting the surrounding forest perfectly and Jaime had just had to see it close up. She jumped slightly as Julia sighed in exasperation.

"Jaime! You're out here in your pyjamas with no shoes on! What were you thinking?"

She opened and closed her mouth a few times. Julia sounded angry. Jaime had only wanted to see the lake.

"I wanted to see the lake close up, there wasn't time to change."

She looked down at the ground and folded her arms. She hadn't been doing any harm. The two girls stood in silence for a moment before Jaime looked back up as she felt Julia's hand on her arm.

"Come on, let's go back inside."

Jaime nodded before following Julia back along the jetty. It really was rotted. They picked their way across before slowly walking back up to the house. She leant against the counter and watched as Julia walked over to a glass of water which she picked up.

"Do you want some water?"

She shook her head before gazing around the room. Jaime could feel Julia's eyes on her but didn't turn to look. There was an awkward silence in the room but this was broken by Jeff walking into the room.

"Morning ladies."

Jeff smiled at the girls as he set about making himself some coffee. He pulled the coffee maker out of the box and carefully plugged it into one of the not so safe looking plug socket, however he still jumped back as it gave him an electric shock. He waved his hand to try and stop the pain and once it had settled a little he set about making a pot of coffee.

"Brian's parents might have to look at getting the whole house rewired. It's not exactly the safest place."

He turned and nodded in agreement to Julia. Jeff's eyes landed on Jaime and found she was staring at him with a blank expression on her face. He did feel bad about scaring her last night. It had been a stupid thing to do.

"Hey Jaime, I'm sorry about last night."

"Oh…no worries."

They shared a smile but Jeff got the feeling that Jaime was still staring at him as he turned away. Jeff had been thinking about just what happened last night. He couldn't get the image out of his head of Jaime's face as she had screamed. Before he had scrambled away they had been so close and her face had almost been distorted into…into something not human. He shuddered slightly and pushed the thought from his mind.

* * *

Meredith carried her bucket of water into the room and over to the mirror that was hanging on the wall. It was thick with grime and seeing as it was fixed to the wall, it had to stay. She pulled out the wash cloth and started scrubbing off the thick layer of dust and grime. It was almost stuck on like glue. After a good 5 minutes of scrubbing, she had cleaned a small circle. Meredith pulled a funny face at herself but then stopped…in the reflection, she could see someone stood in the doorway behind her.

She was scared into silence as she was sure none of her friends looked like the little girl who was stood behind her. Meredith was too scared to look around. The girl was wearing a grey, ankle length dress but it looked soaked with water wand was ripped and ragged. She had black hair that was knotted and hid her eyes. Her face was deathly pale. Meredith swallowed but slowly bending down back to the bucket, keeping her back to the doorway. She stood back up and scrubbed more at the mirror. The girl was still stood behind her. Finally, Meredith took a deep breath and slowly turned around.

Now that she was actually looking at the doorway, there was no one there. Meredith jumped slightly as there was suddenly movement but it was only Lauren walking past the door carrying a dust pan and brush. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her eyes were playing tricks on her. She turned back to the mirror, still with her eyes closed before finally opening them. Now she screamed because stood right behind her was Jaime.

"I was just coming to see if you needed any help."

Meredith stared at Jaime as she spoke softly. How the hell had she come into the room without making a sound? She looked over Jaime's shoulder as Denise appeared in the doorway.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah…"

She took a deep breath and tried to stop her heart from racing. Finally she felt ready to speak again.

"Jaime just gave me a fright, I didn't hear her come in."

She finally smiled as Denise smiled a knowing smile. Jaime was smiling too and Meredith did feel a little relaxed.

"Brian's been making you watch too many horror films. You're on edge too much."

She laughed at this except she couldn't get the thought of that girl out of her head. Meredith decided not to tell them about this. Denise went back to whatever she had been doing and Meredith looked at Jaime. She smiled back and finally Meredith bent down and pulled the other washcloth out of the bucket.

"Come on, this mirror won't clean itself."

Jaime took the cloth from her with a smile and with two of them working on it, the mirror was clean in no time. The StarKids spent the day cleaning out the house. There was so much dust, dirt and grime that with all of them working, they only got two rooms semi-clean.

Lauren looked up at the old photograph above the fireplace as she gave the glass one last rub of her cleaning cloth.

"Who do you think the people in the photograph are?"

She looked over her shoulder at Denise who was stood a little away cleaning a window. Denise looked over before coming to stand next to her and looked at the photograph too. Lauren looked back at it. It was a typical style photograph from the time where the people were rigidly stood and almost glaring at the camera. From looking at the children, it seemed the order of their ages went boy, girl, boy. Lauren was always fascinated by old photographs. They captured that moment in history forever.

"I wonder why they left in such a hurry."

"Me too, you can tell this house was beautiful in its heyday. It seems so sad to just leave it."

Lauren murmured an agreement to this before looking around. She could hear Meredith and Jaime talking in the next room and the others were all taking a break in the kitchen. Sounds of a radio drifted in to them, Brian had brought it in the hopes they would be able to tune it in to something and amazingly they had done. They didn't have any phone reception or internet but at least they had radio. It even said it would be sunny tomorrow. Maybe they could go swimming in the lake.


	4. The Lake Has Secrets

_I do not own the characters, they are based on members of Team StarKid. Any relationships stated are purely for the sake of the story and I am in no way implying that they are real._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Denise opened her eyes and instantly reached for her phone which was in a pocket inside her sleeping bag. The screen flashed on and blinded her for a moment but when she could finally open her eyes, she saw it was 3:24am. She had to pee but she was so nice and warm in her sleeping bag.

She looked around the room, it was still hard to see after her bright phone light but she could make out the dark shapes of her friends. Meredith was right next to her and there was a rustle as she rolled over in her sleep. After a moment Denise decided, she really did have to pee. So with a sigh, she unzipped her sleeping bag and quietly stood up.

The hallway was gloomy, the only light coming from the large window on the stairs. Denise walked along and stopped at the top of the stairs. To say there were 7 other people in the house, it was deathly silent. She looked over the banister and could just make out the bottom of the stairs in the darkness.

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of her neck tingled and she quickly looked over her shoulder. It had felt like there was someone right behind her. Denise gazed around but there was no one behind her. She stepped back from the banister and swallowed.

This had to be one of the others playing a trick on her. Denise shook her head and carried on into the bathroom. Once she was done she walked back out into the hallway and turned off the bathroom light. Which was a fairly big mistake as after being in the bathroom, her eyes had adjusted to the light. The hallway was very dark now and the shadows seemed to almost move.

She walked past the boys' room and heard someone cough slightly but there were no other sounds. Denise was almost back into her room when she stopped. She could hear a sound, it sounded like bells. But it wasn't like someone ringing a bell, it was a cluster of bells, like jingle bells. The ringing sounded like a rhythm, as if they were attached to someone or something and it was walking along.

Denise held her breath as the noise became louder. It seemed to be coming towards her. Then suddenly, it stopped. However there was a presence in the air. She tried not to move. It felt like there was something right in front of her. Then there was a gust of wind and the presence was gone. Denise took a deep breath before almost running back to her room.

* * *

Julia and Lauren strolled down to the lake and walked along the small sand beach until they found a good spot. They rolled their towels out and sat down on them. It really was hot today. She put on her sunglasses and sat back on her towel.

She looked up as Denise and Jaime came over to join them. They set out their own towels and sat down too.

"Where are the others?"

"Still trying to inflate the beach ball."

The girls giggled. It seriously could not take 4 people to blow up one ball. Julia looked out across the lake, the water was glistening in the sun and looked like jewels. Finally Joe, Brian, Jeff and Meredith appeared out of the back door and walked over to them.

"So I see you got it inflated."

"That was down to me."

She laughed as Meredith spoke triumphantly before flopping down onto her towel. The boys laid out their towels before heading straight into the water with the ball.

Joe looked at the others as they waded out until the water came up to their waists but they could still stand on the lakebed. He tossed the ball to Brian and looked out across the lake for a moment. To say it was boiling hot today, the lake water was cool and refreshing.

"Wanna play water volleyball?"

"We need another person for even teams."

He agreed with Jeff before looking back at the beach. The girls were all stretched out on their towels having their own conversation.

"Lopez, come play with us."

He smiled as Lauren stopped mid-sentence and looked over at him. Despite her having sunglasses on, Joe knew she'd be glaring at him.

"No."

"Ahh come on! You know you want to!"

"I can assure you I don't!"

He glanced at the other boys and gave them a knowing smile before wading back over to the shore. All the girls were staring at him as him came closer and as he reached the shore, it seemed Lauren had cottoned on to what he was about to do.

"Joseph Walker I swear, if you dump me in the water our relationship is over."

She tried to stand up but Joe was too quick for her. He picked her and put her over his shoulder before waving at the other girls and walking back into the water. Everyone laughed as Lauren screamed all kinds of profanities at Joe as he carried her deeper into the water. Finally Joe stopped and in one swift moment, he pulled Lauren off his shoulder and dropped her into the water.

Joe laughed triumphantly as Lauren splashed into the water and disappeared completely under the surface. Everyone else was laughing but this laughing slowly faded as Lauren didn't come back up. The sun was shining directly onto the lake so as Joe looked down all he could see was his own reflection. He looked back up at the others and they were all staring back at him. Seconds slipped by and there was only silence. Where was she? A horrible feeling trickled into Joe's stomach.

Suddenly, something grabbed his ankle and pulled. He was so taken off guard that he lost his footing and fell forward into the water. Joe hadn't had time to close his eyes before going under so he kept them open as he frantically spun around to see what had grabbed him. He felt a wave of relief wash over him as he found himself face to face with Lauren. She was smiling at him mischievously and he couldn't help but smile back as he took her hand and pulled them both back up to the surface.

Lauren gasped for breath as they broke the surface of the water. She guessed her prolonged time under the water had given some people a fright as they loudly voiced their opinions. She took a few moments to catch her breath before looking at Joe.

"And that is what you get for dunking me."

She smiled as Joe smiled in defeat. Lauren pulled him into a hug before swimming further out into the lake. She looked round as Joe spoke.

"Erm, are you still not gonna play with us?"

"Nope!"

She laughed at the expression Joe pulled before turning onto her back and floating on the water.

Meredith stood up and took off her sunglasses before tying her hair up.

"I'll play with you guys!"

She quickly walked into the water and waded over to them. As Meredith reached them, she saw they were all looking back at the beach. It seemed Denise and Julia were coming to play too. They were trying to get Jaime to come into the water too but it seemed she was point blank refusing. They finally gave up and headed into the water without her. Meredith looked at Jaime for a moment. She was sat on her towel with her feet drawn up to her chest and was staring straight ahead.

"All right, how about girls v boys?"

"Sure! But we're still gonna kick your arse!"

She laughed at Julia's reply before getting ready to play. They didn't have a net but they made the most of it. Girls won the first game, of course the boys said they let them win but Meredith wasn't so convinced.

Lauren was now quite far away from the shore and the others. She was floating more or less in the middle of the lake and was simply ending the sun shining down on her. If only she hadn't lost her sunglasses when Joe had picked her up. She closed her eyes but the sun was so bright it was still almost burning them so with regret she came up and looked around. She really was far away. The lake didn't look this big from the shore.

She looked to her side, on three sides of the lake, it was boarded by the forest. On one side you could just make out the road but on the other two the forest was dense. However, as she looked she could make out what looked like a building. It was nothing more than some, one roomed hut and looked on the verge of collapse but it still drew her attention. In front of the hut, there looked to be two stones stood up right, like...like gravestones. Brian hadn't said anything about there being a hut. Lauren looked back at her friends as a laugh echoed towards her. It seemed they had given up on the water volleyball and were now simply splashing each other. She smiled before slowly starting to swim back to shore. She'd have to ask Brian about that hut...

* * *

Julia sat up slightly from where she was laying on her towel and looked out at the lake. The boys and Meredith were still playing water volleyball and Denise was swimming further out. Lauren was lying next to her sunbathing on the stomach and Jaime...well Jaime was building sandcastles. Julia watched her as she finished one and instantly started on another, she didn't have a bucket so was simply moulding them with her hands. Jaime had certainly been acting peculiar since they had arrived and it was starting to worry Julia. However she didn't know how to go about solving the problem.

She looked over at the radio which they had brought out with them as it started playing The Killers Mr Brightside. Julia bobbed her head along to the song and looked back at Jaime. Jaime had stopped making sandcastles and now seemed to be writing something in the sand.

"What are you writing?"

She waited for an answer but Jaime didn't even acknowledge she had spoken, she merely carried on writing. Julia couldn't see the whole thing but she could just make out that the first word was 'there's'. Despite it being hot, a shiver went down her spine. Jaime had now finished what she was writing and was staring down at it. Julia slowly stood up and walked towards it.

"Where are you going?"

She waved her hand to shut Lauren up as she walked closer to Jaime. Julia stopped just short of Jaime but from here she could read what she had written. 'There's death in the water." She felt her stomach drop at this. In the next second she was staring out across the lake. There was Jeff, Joe, Brian and Meredith still playing water volleyball, but were was Denise? Julia scanned the entire lake but she was nowhere.

"Guys. Where's Denise?"

The four in the lake all looked around at her before looking across the lake themselves. Lauren had now stood up and was looking too. Jaime was still staring down at what she had written. Julia was really starting to panic now. Denise couldn't have just disappeared. The boys and Meredith were now swimming further out into the water.

"Did you see where she was Juls?"

"Yeah, she was just swimming over to the left."

Julia shouted back before folding her arms. However she could still feel her hands shaking. Denise was a good swimmer, she wouldn't have just come into difficulty.

Jeff swam for a few moments until he was a fair distance out into the lake. He looked around but the surface was only calm. It was like all traces of her had disappeared. He had looked over at her just moments before Julia had spoken and she had been fine.

"Denise?"

He looked over as Meredith shouted. It wouldn't do much good calling to her if she was under the water, which Jeff had a horrible feeling she was. This lake was big and it was deep. However he looked to his right as a short distance away, three bubbles popped on the surface. Jeff dove under the water and swam as deep as he could. He kept his eyes open, despite being able to see hardly anything. His lungs were straining for air but he kept swimming downwards and then he saw her.

She was sinking further to the bottom of the lake. It seemed she was unconscious as she wasn't moving. Jeff kicked his legs down and finally, he grabbed hold of her arm. He started kicking his legs again to get back to the surface but Denise was like a dead weight. His lungs were burning and he felt so light headed but he kept on swimming and at last, they broke the surface of the water and Jeff made sure Denise's head didn't slip back under.

"Guys I got her!"

The others swam over to them and they all helped get Denise back to shore. As they got closer, Jeff picked her up and carried her up onto the beach. They laid her down and all knelt around her. He checked her pulse and that seemed fine.

"Do you think she swallowed any water?"

As if on cue, Denise coughed and spluttered out water. Everyone as one breathed a sigh of relief. Jeff suddenly pulled Denise into a tight hug and closed his eyes. Denise pulled away from him slightly and looked around at them all.

"What are we all doing on the beach?"

"You...you slipped under the water."

Lauren bit her lip as Denise frowned at this. Did she not remember? This was all very weird.

"The last thing I remember was swimming along."

Surely she would have remembered going under. Lauren glanced up at Jaime. She was staring out across the lake and Lauren noticed that she had rubbed out what she written in the sand. There was something very strange going on with Jaime.

They all sat a moment more before deciding it was time to go back to the house. Denise recovered quickly from her trip into the water and within in an hour, you wouldn't have known she'd almost drowned. This was all getting rather strange...


	5. Icy Cold Dip

_I do not own the characters, they are based on members of Team StarKid. Any relationships stated are purely for the sake of the story and I am in no way implying that they are real._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Lauren absentmindedly waved her and Joe's entwined hands around for a moment before looking back at Denise. It was so strange how fast Denise had recovered. Jeff had insisted she sit with a blanket around her but she really didn't need it.

"Do you really not remember anything Deeds?"

"No, all I remember is suddenly feeling so tired. I must have fallen asleep."

"But who falls asleep when they're swimming?"

"It can happen..."

They all fell silent again. Some of the others were still in the kitchen and the sounds of them talking floated into the room. Lauren looked out of the window for a moment. The sun was setting across the lake and had given the lake a beautiful pink tint. Looking at the lake made her remember that hut. She had completely forgotten about it until now.

"Hey Brian, did your parents tell you about that hut in the forest?"

She watched as Brian's expression became thoughtful. Any conversations people had been having trickled into silence as they were all intrigued for Brian's answer.

"They mentioned there were some outbuildings but they're all on the verge of collapse anyway so they said just to leave them."

Lauren nodded at this but she still couldn't get it out of her mind. There was something about that hut that made it different, and those stones outside of it. She nestled further into Joe and tried to push the thoughts from her mind.

It had gotten late now and Denise yawned as she ambled into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She looked back and saw Meredith had followed and they both leant against the sink as they brushed their teeth. She was ready to spit so did so before looking at herself in the mirror. It took her a moment to notice that Meredith had spit too but the whole time, she hadn't looked in the mirror once.

"Are you avoiding mirrors now?"

Denise smiled but this smile fell as Meredith slowly looked up at her. Meredith seemed worried, she was opening and closing her mouth as if she was deciding if she should tell Denise.

"I saw something, yesterday in the mirror downstairs."

She gasped slightly as Meredith whispered. Denise had decided not to tell anyone about hearing the bells last night but if Meredith had seen something unexplainable too…She looked over Meredith's shoulder as Jaime walked up the stairs and into the girls' room. After a deep breath, she looked back at Meredith.

"What did you see?"

"It doesn't matter, you probably won't believe me."

She reached out and grabbed Meredith's hand as she turned to leave. Meredith looked back at her, curiosity lining her face.

"Try me."

Meredith took a deep breath as she looked at Denise's determined expression. It couldn't hurt to tell her and if Denise was going to laugh, she wouldn't be so serious now. Perhaps she knew something herself.

"I…I saw the reflection of a little girl stood behind me in the mirror downstairs."

She held her breath as Denise looked doubtful. They should probably get out the bathroom seeing as the others would be wanting to use it. Finally, Denise looked up at her.

"I didn't see a little girl but when I went to pee last night, I heard footsteps and it sounded like the thing had bells attached to its ankles."

As much as the thought of ringing footsteps was scary, Meredith was relieved that she wasn't going crazy. They stood in silence for a moment before Joe appeared in the hallway.

"Erm, are you girls done?"

"Yeah, sorry."

They walked past Joe and out into the hallway. Joe gave them a nod before closing and locking the bathroom door. Denise leant against the banister and a moment later Meredith joined her.

"This was where I heard the bells."

She looked around as Denise spoke. Meredith hadn't thought until now if she actually believed in ghosts but she was starting to think she did believe now. They both looked up as Julia appeared in the doorway to the girls' room.

"Oh hey, I'm just going down to get a drink, do you want anything?"

Suddenly, she felt hungry. Meredith could use a snack. It seemed Denise did too as she turned back to Denise as she spoke.

"We'll come with you."

They headed down the stairs and towards the kitchen.

Lauren was using the reflection in the window as a mirror whilst she brushed her hair. It always got so knotty after she took a shower. She had managed to brush all the knots out and was now brushing it up so she could put it into a messy bun. She stopped as she noticed in the reflection that Jaime was staring at her. Lauren slowly tied her hair up before looking around. For some reason, she got the funny feeling that Jaime had been staring at her for a while.

"So what do you think of the house so far?"

"It's called the room."

"What?"

A shiver went down Lauren's spine. Jaime was staring at her but it was like she couldn't see Lauren. Where were the other girls? Not that Lauren was scared of Jaime but it gave her an uneasy feeling to know Jaime was between the door and her.

"The hut you saw from the lake, they used to call it the room."

Suddenly Jaime blinked and looked away. Lauren watched as she stood up and walked over to her sleeping bag. She unzipped it and got in.

"I'm tired."

Lauren hadn't realised she was shuffling backwards until she felt the wall press into her back. Jaime was sat up in her sleeping back and yawned.

"I wish we had phone reception up here and internet. It's a shame we can't update KnowYourGlow."

"Yeeaahh."

What the heck had happened to Jaime? A moment ago she had been all creepy and now she was well…Jaime. This had happened a few times now. One minute Jaime would be acting how Lauren had come to expect her to act and the next moment she would stop and then her whole behaviour would change. Julia had told her that she found Jaime out by the lake yesterday and that unnerved her slightly.

As the other girls came back into the room, Lauren crawled over to her sleeping back and got in. It was only their third night here and she already wanted to go home. She sighed and snuggled down into her sleeping back. Right before Julia turned the light out, her eyes met Jaime's and they shared a smile.

* * *

Meredith smiled as she quietly pulled her bedroom door and found Brian out in the hallway. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Her tongue brushed her teeth and as Brian opened his mouth, their tongues entwined almost immediately. Finally they broke apart for breath and he could see Meredith's eyes were gleaming.

"It's weird not having you sleeping next to me."

"Just pretend you're on a camping trip!"

She smiled as Brian rolled his eyes at this but she could tell he was smiling. Meredith followed as Brian took her hand and led her into one of the empty rooms. This was the room where they'd watched ET on the first night and Brian's laptop was still plugged in. Brian picked it up and carried it over to the chair. Meredith smiled to herself as she saw him pull out Lost. He had been forcing her to watch it and had insisted on bringing it with them.

Once he had put the DVD in. Meredith plonked herself onto his knee and pulled the laptop onto hers. They tried to keep the volume down as the episode started and Meredith settled back in to watch.

Brian blinked as Meredith suddenly paused the current episode they were watching.

"Hey…"

He stopped as she pressed her finger to her lip. Meredith was gesturing to the hallway and Brian turned to look at the doorway. He could hear footsteps. Someone was walking on the stairs. He looked at Meredith and they nodded to each other before Meredith put the laptop down and they both stood up. They made it out into the hallway and inched towards the top of the stairs. Jaime was stood on the half-landing, looking out of the window.

"Oh, hey Jaime."

He whispered but Jaime acted like she hadn't heard him. Brian looked back at Meredith before looking at Jaime again. What was she doing? Suddenly she turned and carried on down the rest of the stairs.

"Should we follow her?"

He nodded and took Meredith's hand before slowly walking down the stairs. The downstairs was all in darkness. Surely Jaime would have turned some of the lights on… Brian looked towards the kitchen as he heard a door creak open and then close. Was she going outside? They stopped in the kitchen. The keys were in the back door, Brian stepped forward and turned the handle, it was open. He had been about to step outside when Meredith pulled him back.

"Bri, if we're going out, we should take a flash light."

That was a good idea. Brian grabbed the flash light off the counter and turned it on. He took a deep breath before holding Meredith's hand again and leading them outside.

It was pitch black outside. Despite it being a fairly clear night and the moon being out, it was so dark. They reached the end of the veranda and Brian shone his torch around but couldn't see Jaime. He made sure Meredith was there before slowly walking down the steps. Which way did they go? The property was big and Jaime could be anywhere. But they had been just behind her, she couldn't have gotten far.

"Jaime?"

Brian must have been breaking Meredith's fingers with how tight he was holding her hand but he had to know she was there. They had set off down towards the lake as that seemed the best place to start. The water was as still as it ever was. The beach was empty. Brian made sure of it by walking the length of it twice. He finally came back to Meredith and stopped, it was like Jaime had disappeared.

He was just about to suggest that maybe Jaime hadn't come outside when they heard the sound of splashing water. Brian stared at Meredith wide-eyed for a moment before looking over her shoulder. He could just make out the start of the jetty in the darkness, the splashes seemed to be coming from there. They set off towards it and finally Brian could shine his flash light along the whole jetty. And at the end, was Jaime.

She was lying face down at the end of the jetty, her legs dangling into water. Meredith ran forward, not even caring at how the wood dangerously creaked under her feet and stopped as she reached Jaime. Brian was close behind her with the flash light. She knelt down next to Jaime and carefully rolled Jaime onto her back. Jaime was soaking wet, she'd been in the water. Brian shone the flash light in her face and Meredith breathed a sigh of relief as Jaime's eyes scrunched up and she groaned.

"Jaime, can you hear me?"

She held her breath as Jaime slowly opened her eyes and looked at them. Meredith helped her sit up and Jaime rubbed her head.

"Why are we outside?"

She looked at Brian as Jaime rubbed her eyes and gazed at them. Jaime seemed so confused.

"Jaime, why were you in the lake?"

"I wasn't."

It was clear that Jaime had been in the water. They helped her to her feet. She was like a dead weight. Her eyes were glazed over and she kept closing them. Meredith and Brian supported her back along the jetty and back to the house.

"Where are we going?"

"Back inside."

"Nooo."

Suddenly Jaime was pulling back against them. Brian got his arm tighter around her waist and they kept on going despite Jaime trying to get away. Jaime was just repeating 'no' over and over again. They finally stopped, just by the steps to the house and Brian looked right into Jaime's eyes.

"Jaime, what's the matter?"

"I don't want to go back in."

He looked into her eyes and saw there was genuine fear in them. Brian kept hold of her and Jaime slowly calmed down, however there was still fear in her eyes.

"What's wrong Jaime?"

"There's something in the house and it won't let me go."

What? Jaime was shaking. She really believed there was something in there. But they had to go back in, Jaime was soaked and her teeth were chattering. Meredith was rubbing Jaime's arm reassuringly and he watched her smile as Jaime looked at her.

"You're just a little shocked after your dip in the cold water Jaime. We'll get you inside and dry you off and everything will be fine in the morning."

Jaime looked at them for a long time. Her large, blue eyes bore into them and Brian saw so many emotions flash across them. He wished he knew what she was thinking but it seemed to be something big, until finally, she whispered.

"Okay."

They smiled at Jaime before carefully steering her into the house. Meredith ran upstairs and woke up the others and within minutes they were all downstairs. No one spoke about why Jaime had been out in the lake. The girls took her upstairs and got her into something dry. The boys sat downstairs, they didn't talk at all whilst they waited and finally the girls came back down. Jaime was so quiet now and she was moving as if she was in a dream.

The StarKids sat awake for a while longer before all slowly walking up to bed. Meredith watched as Jaime slowly got into her sleeping bag and curled up into a ball. She couldn't see her face but heard her cough slightly. Jaime hadn't spoken since they had gotten her back into the house. Something had changed in her now and Meredith was worried this was a very bad thing.


	6. Isabella

_I do not own the characters, they are based on members of Team StarKid. Any relationships stated are purely for the sake of the story and I am in no way implying that they are real._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Jeff opened his eyes and sighed before slowly sitting up and looking around. Joe and Brian were still asleep and the rest of the house seemed to be in silence too. However suddenly, there was a laugh from downstairs. It sounded like Denise.

He waited a moment more before quietly standing up. Jeff rubbed his back and groaned. Sleeping on the floor didn't do wonders for your back so he hoped the beds would be delivered soon. He stretched before slowly walking out of the room.

Stopping in the girls' room doorway, he found Denise and Jaime's sleeping bags were emptied so he guessed it really was Denise's laugh he had heard. Jeff set off down the stairs and headed over to the sitting room where he could hear voices. He found Denise and Jaime sat on the floor. Denise was facing away from him so it was Jaime who saw him first. Jaime had been telling what appeared to be a very animated story but she stopped as she saw Jeff. Her falling silent caused Denise to turn around.

"Oh hi sweetie."

He smiled at Denise as she stood up and came towards him. Jeff pulled her into a hug and looked into her eyes for a moment before kissing her. It was only a peck but he couldn't help but smile as he held her close. Jeff glanced over Denise's shoulder and saw Jaime was staring at them. He suddenly felt uneasy so in the next second, he was slowly pulling away.

"I'm gonna make some coffee."

"I need a re-fill so I'll come with you."

Denise picked up her empty mug before smiling at Jaime. Jaime smiled back at her but her eyes flicked to Jeff for a second. She followed Jeff into the kitchen and over to the coffee maker. However she looked up as Jeff took her arm.

"Is Jaime still pissed at me for the whole scaring her thing?"

"I don't think so, she hasn't said anything. Why do you ask?"

"Every time we're in the same room, she just stares at me but then when I ask her about it, she just says nothing and looks away."

She thought this over for a moment as she took her cup and moved over to the window. There was something different about Jaime. It was like she had had a personality change. And what had she been doing out in the lake last night? This was all very strange.

"Brian wants her to see a doctor when we go into town today."

"What does Jaime think of that?"

"She doesn't know yet."

Her stomach dropped a little at this. They were treating Jaime like she was a child and had to have her decisions made for her. They couldn't force Jaime to see a doctor. Jaime seemed fine this morning. Denise had woken up to find Jaime already awake and they had come downstairs together. They had been talking just how they always had. She had been so quiet last night and now she was just Jaime. Although thinking this made her realise something, the fact she was now herself showed how much her personality was changing.

"You all think there's something wrong with me, don't you?"

She jumped as Jaime spoke softly from the kitchen doorway. How long had she been stood there? Denise suddenly felt horrible that she'd heard any of it and in the next second she moved forward and pulled Jaime into a hug.

"No sweetie, we're just worried about you."

"I'm worried too."

It was the smallest of whispers and Denise couldn't be sure if she had actually heard it but she held Jaime tighter all the same. They couldn't just cart Jaime off to a doctor. If she carried on like this then yeah she would have to see a doctor but it could be when they got back home and she could see a doctor she knew, instead of some stranger. She smiled at Jaime and squeezed her arms. Jaime didn't seem as bad now and she smiled before walking away. Denise's smiled dropped as she turned and shared at look with Jeff.

* * *

Brian brought up the rear as everyone walked out of the house and shut and locked the door. They were going in to town, one to get some fresh food and two so he could get phone signal to check when all the furniture was coming. They still didn't have a fridge so they also needed ice for their cool boxes. It had been decided, in hush tones whilst Jaime was in the shower that they wouldn't make her see a doctor today. Everyone would just keep on eye on her over the next few weeks.

He clambered into the car before starting it and moving off. They drove down the drive and made it to the gates where he slowed to a stop. Meredith got out and walked over to unlock them. Brian drove through once they were open before stopping again. Once Meredith was back in from locking them, they were ready to go.

In his car now were Meredith, Joe and Lauren. With having unpacked all their supplies, there was more space in Denise's car so Julia had gone with them. This seemed to have made Lauren happy as she stretched out over the seat. It was a fair drive to the nearest town, well he said town, it was more a street that had stores and other things you'd expect in a town. Finally they made it in and parked outside the grocery store. Everyone got out and looked around for a moment.

"Right let's split up."

Julia, Lauren, Jaime and Joe walked into the grocery store and walked down the nearest aisle. The others had set off in the hopes of finding somewhere that sold paint brushes. In all the preparing they had done for coming to the house, they had forgotten to bring any paint brushes to actually paint the walls with. Julia walked down the canned food aisle and sighed. Having no fridge in the height of summer meant you really could have next to no fresh food. She was already sick of eating things that came from cans.

She made it to the fridges and picked up some bags of salad, at least once they had the cool boxes they could have some fresh food. Julia glanced up and found Lauren was further down the aisle, filling her basket with fruit. She walked towards her and dumped her salad bags in the basket.

"Oo salad!"

Lauren smiled as Julia laughed. They spoke for a moment more before Lauren moved on to find the bread. She couldn't get gluten free like she had wanted as apparently everyone else didn't like it. Lauren sighed to herself but smiled, some people just didn't understand the wonders of gluten free. She hummed to herself as she surveyed the different breads before picking one.

She looked up and smiled as Joe appeared at the end of the aisle. Lauren walked up to him and handed the rather heavy basket to him. They looked at each other for a moment before Joe seemed to remember he had meant to say something.

"We can get bags of ice here but it'll melt if we wait too long so I'm going to go find the others and get Denise to come and drive us back sooner with the ice."

"Okay cool."

She reluctantly took the basket back off him before watching him walk away. Lauren decided to put the basket down whilst she looked at bags of chips. They were on holiday! They had to get chips!

Jaime gazed at the shelves of candy. There was so much. What did she choose? It was her job to get candy everyone would like but she couldn't decide! All the wrappers were so brightly coloured, it was like a rainbow.

"Erm miss? Please could you reach down that bar of candy for me?"

She blinked and turned to find a small girl of around 6 or 7 stood next to her. The girl was pointing up to the top shelf. She had blue eyes and brown hair that was in two pony tails.

"Sure!"

Jaime reached up her hand before looking back at the girl. Her hand hovered in front of one and the girl's face lit up. She smiled as she picked it up before handing it to the girl. The girl looked at the bar for a moment before looking up at Jaime.

"Thank you!"

"No problem."

"You have really pretty eyes."

She laughed and saw the girl was smiling. Little kids really did give the best compliments. Jaime crouched down so she was level with the girl before speaking.

"Well you have really pretty eyes too."

"Thanks! My name's Regan, what's yours?"

Lauren lugged the basket to Julia and put it down before trying to catch her breath. Maybe they should have gotten a shopping cart. They both looked up as Joe reappeared with Denise.

"Right, we'll get the ice, meet you at the checkout and then we'll head back and the others will come when they're ready."

"Cool, we need to get Jaime and then we're ready."

She smiled at them before watching them head over to the freezers. Lauren sighed and picked up the basket again before following Julia to the confectionary aisle. She looked up as she heard Jaime talking. Jaime was talking about Kidz Bop…to a little kid. Lauren coughed slightly and Jaime and the little girl looked up at them.

"Oh hi guys! This is Regan."

"Erm…hi. We're ready to go now."

"Okay!"

She watched as Jaime walked towards them before looking back to Regan.

"Bye Regan!"

"Bye Isabella! You're nice to talk to!"

Lauren almost choked on thin air. Who was Isabella? And why was this kid calling Jaime, Isabella? She glanced at Julia as Jaime waved at Regan before skipping around the corner. Julia looked as confused as she felt. Lauren followed Jaime and caught her arm.

"Why did Regan just call you Isabella?"

"Oh we were just being silly! Regan and Isabella are just names we both think are cool."

She nodded at this as she watched Jaime skip over to where Joe and Denise were waiting with the ice. Julia gave her a wide eyed look before following. Lauren frowned as she picked up the basket. She was just about the join her friends when she looked back down the confectionary aisle. A woman had appeared and had taken Regan's hand.

"Come on Regan, it's time to go."

"Okay mommy."

So if her mom was calling her Regan, then Regan must be her real name. Which meant Jaime had lied to them. This meant there was still the mystery as to why Jaime had told Regan her name was Isabella. They paid for their things before heading out to Denise's car. They put everything into the trunk before piling in. As they drove, Lauren glanced at Jaime. For most of the journey, she was humming under her breath whilst happily gazing out of the window.

There was silence in the car. Jaime's humming was mostly causing that. It felt like there was something in the air in the car. It was starting to unnerve Lauren slightly. Finally they made it back to the house and Joe got out to unlock the gate. They drove through and came to a stop outside the house. The first thing they had to do was get the ice in the cool boxers. They were keeping the cool boxes in the basement as it was like a fridge down there anyway.

* * *

Lauren looked up as she came up the stairs to find Jaime was stood in the kitchen doorway. She was smiling at her. Julia, Denise and Joe were still sorting out the cool boxes down in the basement so they were alone in the room.

"Wanna go on an adventure?"

"What?"

Suddenly Jaime had jumped forward and grabbed her hand. Before Lauren could protest, Jaime was pulling her out of the house. She tried to pull away from her but Jaime's strength seemed superhuman. They were almost running as she Jaime pulled them along.

"Jaime where are we going?"

"I want you to see the room!"

The room? Then Lauren remembered last night and how Jaime had said that hut was called the room. Lauren looked back over her shoulder as they ran further from the house. It wasn't long before the forest had surrounded them and they finally slowed but Jaime kept a tight hold of her hand.

"Jaime I think we should go back."

"No! You have to see!"

"Well we can get the others and all come back together!"

"No only you can see!"

They carried on walking at a fast pace and soon the trees were so dense that it was gloomy around them. Jaime seemed to know where she was going so all Lauren could do was unwillingly follow.

Joe came up in the kitchen and looked around. He had expected to see Lauren and Jaime but they weren't there. He turned as Julia and Denise came up behind him. The house was silent so the others weren't back yet but it felt like there was just them three in the house.

"Lauren? Jaime?"

There was no answer. It seemed Julia and Denise had realised something was wrong. They all set about searching the house but they soon realised there was no point in doing so as Lauren and Jaime were gone. Joe came back into the kitchen and for the first time, he noticed the back door. It was open.

"Guys, did either of you open the back door?"

"No."

They appeared in the room, the worry plain on their faces. Joe walked out onto the veranda and looked out across the lake. Lauren and Jaime couldn't have just disappeared. But where could they be? Joe had a horrible feeling that something very bad was about to happen…


	7. The Clearing

_I do not own the characters, they are based on members of Team StarKid. Any relationships stated are purely for the sake of the story and I am in no way implying that they are real._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Brian pushed open the store door as he ended his phone call. They had a week before the furniture was to be delivered. He found Jeff waiting in line with a pile of paintbrushes. He smiled at him before heading off to find Meredith. She was near the back of the store looking at a display of door alarms.

"What are you looking at?"

"We should get something so we know if Jaime goes out of the house again."

He nodded at this. Brian took one of the alarms off the display and read the back. It would help to know if she went outside but they'd need a proper electrician to install something like this. He put it back before looking at Meredith.

"We'll have to think of something else for now, like hiding the keys."

They both agreed on this before heading back towards the front of the store. Jeff had just paid and they were all ready to leave. Brian led them over to his car and they all clambered in. The drive back was mostly quiet as it seemed they all had too much to think about. Brian gazed straight ahead as he drove. Things were going to be okay, the stuff that was happening wasn't strange, everything had an explanation. He just had to figure out what it was.

Denise jogged down to the beach and looked around. It was silent around her. Where did they start looking? Brian had said the property was big and most of it was covered in thick forest. She walked along and came up towards the forest.

"Lauren? Jaime?"

She looked through the trees but couldn't see anything. Denise knew it was stupid to go into the woods alone as she would surely get lost. Joe and Julia were round the front of the house and she guessed she should go and join them but there was something about the forest. As she looked, she felt so on edge, as if something was looking back at her, but not just one thing, a lot of things. This was weird so in the next second she was jogging back to the house.

She rounded the corner and found Joe and Julia staring down the drive. There was a car coming up it and as it rounded the corner, she saw it was Brian and the others. They came to a stop and got out, Denise could see they all looked confused as they stared back at them.

"Is everything okay?"

"Jaime and Lauren are gone."

"Gone where?"

"We don't know."

They all went into the house and Denise paced around the kitchen. There was something clearly not right with Jaime and now she and Lauren had just disappeared. The group stood in silence as it seemed no one knew quite what to do. Denise was growing impatient.

"Well shouldn't we go looking for them?"

"But where do we start?"

Denise looked away at this. They didn't know which direction they had gone in or if they were even together. But they couldn't just stand here and wait for something to happen.

* * *

Lauren held her breath as they came into the clearing. The hut was made of stone with a metal roof that had rusted over years of neglect. The stone was crumbling and one of the windows had cracks in it. From this close, Lauren could see those two stones were gravestones but she couldn't read what they said. Jaime pulled them to a stop outside the window.

"This was where we stood."

She looked through the window, it was thick with grime and Lauren could barely see through it. However she could make out a chair in the middle of the room. It was a large wooden arm chair. She couldn't see clearly through the gloom but she thought she could see wrist straps attached to the arms.

"They used to tie her to that. Sometimes she'd be here for hours or even days."

"Who?"

Lauren waited for an answer but Jaime suddenly laughed and skipped around the corner. She could hear Jaime giggling and then suddenly she appeared from the other side. Jaime stopped in front of her and fell silent.

"We should go inside."

"No Jaime. It's too dangerous."

She grabbed Jaime's hand and started pulling her away from the hut and back towards the house. What had happened to Jaime? Clearly she was somehow deluded. Suddenly Lauren came to a stop as Jaime stopped walking and dug her heels into the ground. Lauren was angry now, she whirled around and grabbed both of Jaime's arms.

"Jaime! You need to snap out of this right now and stop whatever stupid joke you're playing because it's not funny."

She was glaring at Jaime but this fell as Jaime slowly smiled at her.

"Jaime's not here right now. If you leave a message we'll make sure she gets it.

Lauren was suddenly running. She didn't care that she was just leaving Jaime, all she cared about was getting away. Jaime was laughing behind her but she sounded half crazed. However then she stopped laughing. Lauren looked back over her shoulder but Jaime had gone.

She slowed to a stop. Why had Jaime gone? Lauren picked up her pace again but didn't turn in time to see the low hanging branch. She hit in to it and fell to the ground with a thud.

"Lauren?"

She slowly opened her eyes as someone turned her over. Lauren's head was throbbing and there was a thick fog floating around her mind. Jaime was leaning over her, her eyes full of worry.

"Are you okay?"

Lauren tried to speak but she felt so dizzy. Jaime looked like she was swirling around as Lauren felt herself slipping into a deep sleep. The last thing she heard was Jaime standing up.

"I'll go get help!"

She heard Jaime running away but then everything went black.

* * *

Joe ran to the back door as he noticed Jaime running towards the house. She finally reached the steps and slumped down on to them to try and catch her breath. The others had appeared behind him and they all stared at Jaime. Joe looked up in the hopes of seeing Lauren but she wasn't there. He crouched down next to her and held her up.

"Jaime, where's Lauren?"

"There…there was an accident. I didn't mean to scare her but she started running and then hit her head."

He looked over to where Jaime was pointing. Joe stood up and helped her stand before turning back to the others. There was something wrong about this. How had Jaime scared her? Suddenly Jaime was crying. Julia stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her.

"Jaime, you need to tell us where Lauren is."

A few minutes later and Joe, Jeff and Denise were heading into the forest. Jaime had told them to walk so that they could always see the lake on their left and eventually, they would find the clearing and Lauren. Joe didn't like to think about how easily Jaime had been able to give them directions. They walked in silence and the sounds of snapping trigs under their feet seemed so loud. Some bushes close by to them rustled and Joe pushed on, not wanting to know what it was.

Finally, he could see the trees thinning out ahead of them and then what looked like a hut. Joe looked back at the others and they looked at him before they all continued on. They broke out of the trees and Joe saw her. Lauren was lying between two stones that looked like gravestones.

"Lauren?"

Jeff followed the others as they dashed over to Lauren. Lauren was lying straight on her back with her arms neatly at her sides. He legs were straight and apart from the nasty looking gash on her forehead, she could have simply laid down on the ground. Jaime had said she had hit her head, but on what? One of the stones? As Joe and Denise knelt down on either side of her, Jeff took a closer look at them. They were graves.

He crouched down in front of the nearest one and rubbed away some of the dirt. The writing was hard to read but as he squinted, Jeff could see the first part, 'In Loving Memory of Nell Edwards'. He was about to rub away more of the dirt when suddenly Lauren groaned. Jeff turned and saw Lauren had opened her eyes slightly.

"What…what happened?"

"Jaime said you were running, you must had slipped and hit you head."

This seemed to confuse Lauren slightly. They helped her sit up and she looked around before looking at them all.

"I hit into a branch on one of the trees at the edge of the clearing."

They all slowly looked around. It was a fair distance to the edge of the clearing. As Jeff looked, he could see a trail in the ground where the leaves had been disturbed as if something had been dragged.

"Did Jaime move you?"

"No, I remember her running in the other direction."

Denise frowned at this. Jaime had to have been the one to move her. No one else was out here. She looked around before slowly looking at the hut, the door was open. For some reason, Denise felt drawn to it. Slowly, she stood up and walked towards the door. She stopped in the doorway and looked inside. There was only a chair in the room. She thought she could make out pieces of leather attached to the arms and the feet of the chair as if they had been used to tie someone to it.

She didn't know why, but she felt like the chair was calling to her. Denise looked back over her shoulder. Joe was examining Lauren's cut and Jeff was watching. She slowly looked back into the hut before heading inside. The hut wasn't big but it was dark. Old, dead leaves cracked under her feet as she drew closer to the chair. It was an old chair, with a tall back and thick feet. She stopped beside it and pulled at the leather straps. They had been ripped completely in two.

For some strange reason, Denise had the urge to sit down in the chair. Without even thinking, she stepped in front of it and slowly sat down. She rested her arms along the length of the arm rests and held on to the end of the arms. It felt like…it felt like she had been here before… Suddenly, the leather seemed to come to life and strapped her wrists and arms down. There were straps around her ankles too. What the hell? She pulled on them but they wouldn't loosen.

"Guys?"

She pulled on the straps more and more as she started to panic. This couldn't be happening, she had watched the straps just come to life but how could they have done? Denise could feel herself shaking. There was something in the room with her.

"Guys!"

She screamed for her friends and suddenly Jeff appeared. The second he had appeared the straps had disappeared and gone back to being the old pieces of leather they had been. From the look on Jeff's face, she knew he hadn't seen the straps. Denise slowly stood up and moved away from the chair.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah…I just thought…it doesn't matter."

She smiled at Jeff as best she could before slowly walking past him. Denise sensed Jeff follow her and they stopped next to Joe and Lauren. The two were looking at her with confusion on their faces but she just shook her head.

Lauren looked at Denise for a moment as they headed back to the house. She still felt lightheaded so Joe was carrying her so this gave her chance to look at her friend. Denise was as pale as a sheet and Lauren could tell she was shaking. She had sounded so scared as she had screamed for them. Had something happened in the hut?

As they walked, Lauren thought over what had happened. Something had moved her whilst she had been unconscious. She didn't remember being moved but she had had the strangest dream. There had been a woman in it, she had been dressed in a long, flowing white dress that looked like a night dress. She hadn't done anything, she had just sat next to Lauren and watched her.

She felt sleepy. Joe wanted her to see a doctor but she was fine. All she had was a little bump on the head. It was nothing serious. However she was so sleepy. Lauren knew sleeping right now was probably a bad thing but who cared. If she still felt sleepy tomorrow then maybe she would go and see a doctor.

* * *

Brian watched Jaime and Julia play pat-a-cake for a moment before walking over to where Meredith was leaning against an old chest of drawers. Playing pat-a-cake had been the only thing that had calmed Jaime down so she'd stop crying. She really was acting differently. She was acting like a little kid.

"Julia! You're not going fast enough!"

He swallowed slightly. Jaime was laughing gleefully as she and Julia started playing faster. Brian looked at Meredith as she nudged him. She looked at him before looking at Jaime and shrugging her shoulder. He shook his head and sighed. What were they going to do with Jaime? Were there any mental illnesses that made you act like a 5 year old?

He looked round as he noticed Meredith was opening the drawers of the chest of drawers they were leaning on. Brian looked more closely as he heard a jangle of bells and watched as Meredith held up what looked like two bracelets made of silver bells. Meredith slid one over her wrist but it was too big.

"I think they're anklets."

He suddenly had an idea. Brian pulled Meredith out of the room and some way into the hallway. Meredith seemed confused but Brian took the anklets from her and held them up.

"Why don't we put these on Jaime? We'd be able to hear then if she walked around at night."

Meredith's eyes widened at this. That was a great idea! She wondered what the bells had been originally used for and why they had been left behind, they looked expensive. They walked back into the sitting room. Julia and Jaime looked up at them as they came in. Meredith smiled as she walked over to Jaime and sat down next to her.

"Hey Jaime, do you wanna play a game?"

"Yeah!"

She smiled more before taking the anklets off Brian. Jaime stared at them intrigued before looking back up at Meredith.

"What we do is put these on your ankles and then we can play horses because they sound like the jingle bells you get on sleighs."

She could tell Jaime was thinking this over before smiling. Jaime took of her shoes and let Meredith pull the anklets on. Jaime shook her legs and giggled as the bells rang. Meredith kept smiling but she was really having to force it now. This was not normal behaviour.

"Now Jaime, you have to keep them on as if you take them off, you lose!"

Julia held her breath as Jaime looked at Brian wide eyed before nodding slowly. She turned and looked at Jaime as she gazed at the bells. Since they had been at the house, something had happened to Jaime. Getting her away seemed like the most logical thing to do but Julia had a feeling that that wouldn't help. She couldn't stop thinking about what Brian and Meredith had said Jaime had said when they found her by the lake. That something was in the house and wouldn't let her go. Julia didn't know what she believed on the supernatural but she was starting to believe that there was something very strange happening in this house.

She looked up as she heard a shout of hello from the kitchen. They all rushed to greet them and Julia breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Lauren smiling at her sleepily. Lauren went straight to lie down and Joe went to keep an eye on her. It was decided that for tonight, Lauren and Joe could sleep in the same room so that Joe's mind would be at ease with the fact he got to watch her.

They all went to bed early as tomorrow, they would have to be up early to clean more rooms. They'd maybe even start painting.


	8. Scratchings On The Wall

_I do not own the characters, they are based on members of Team StarKid. Any relationships stated are purely for the sake of the story and I am in no way implying that they are real._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Lauren opened her eyes as she heard a rustle close by to her. She sat up and looked around the room. Joe was fast asleep next to her but it wasn't him who had made the noise. Her head still hurt but she didn't feel as dizzy anymore. She prodded at her cut and winced as it stung. Lauren looked up again as she heard a sound, it seemed to be coming from the room next to them. It sounded like something was scratching the wood, Lauren hoped they didn't have rats.

She glanced back at Joe. Should she wake him? It was probably nothing but Lauren was increasingly seeing that there was no such thing as nothing in this house. Lauren finally took a deep breath and unzipped her sleeping bag. The room was cold as she walked across to the door. She looked out into the hallway. She could still hear the scratching so after a moment she slowly walked towards the door. It was slightly closed, Lauren took a deep breath before pushing it open.

The room was empty but in the moonlight, Lauren could make out scratch marks on the far wall. From here, it looked like writing but Lauren couldn't read it. She slowly walked forwards until finally, she could read it. It said 'you can't escape'. What did that mean? Lauren didn't like this house one bit but they couldn't just leave because 'strange' things were happening. Finally, she turned to leave the room but stopped. The door was shut. Lauren was sure she'd left it open but she hadn't heard it close.

Lauren marched towards it and ripped it open. There was no one out in the hallway. She checked the girls' room and the boys' room but everyone was asleep. Lauren finally went back to the room she and Joe were in, he was asleep too. However, as she got back into her sleeping bag Joe stirred slightly and opened his eyes.

"Lauren? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I had to pee, go back to sleep."

"Okay…"

And just like that, Joe went back to sleep. Lauren lay down and stared up at the ceiling for a moment. What could that message mean? It sent a shiver down Lauren's spine and this shiver stayed as she drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

Julia walked into the dining room and stopped. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see something red. It was dripping down the wall. She slowly turned and saw there was a message on the wall. 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir, beware.' Well unless there was a spirit in the house that was a massive Harry Potter fan, this had to be a joke.

"Guys, can you come here please?"

She turned as everyone appeared in the doorway. Julia pointed at the wall and everyone stared at it for a moment. People were clearly trying very hard not to laugh.

"Well…that's original."

"Who did it?"

She looked at Jeff and saw he was trying his hardest not to make eye contact with her. Julia had a funny feeling that he was behind it. She walked up to him and eyed him up.

"Jeff…was it you?"

"No…"

He was trying very hard not to laugh and finally burst out laughing. Denise was laughing too so Julia guessed she had something to do with it too. Everyone had cottoned on to the joke and soon everyone was laughing along.

They finished breakfast and set about preparing the dining room to paint it. All the rooms were being painted a simple cream colour and once it was finished, it would make the house lovely and airy. Denise opened all the windows in the room before picking up a paint roller. She carried it over to where Jeff was pouring paint out into a paint tray. As punishment for their painting prank, they had to paint the dining room.

She dipped her paint roller in the paint and took it over to the wall. Denise started painting and instantly the paint splattered onto her. She spluttered as it covered her face before slowly looking at Jeff. He was trying very hard not to laugh. She glared at him before trying again and getting splattered again.

"You're pressing down too hard."

"What?"

Denise sighed and held the paint roller out to Jeff. He took it and looked at it before dipping it in the paint again. He brought the paint roller back to the wall and started rolling it up and down. How was he doing it so well?! She watched him for a few moments before picking up another paint roller and dipping it in the paint before walking over to another wall. Denise didn't press down as hard this time and the roller glided up and down smoothly. The walls had been a faded green colour but the cream paint easily covered it.

* * *

An hour or so later and Denise and Jeff had painted about half the room. She sat down with a sigh and looked up as Jeff sat down next to her. They looked around the room for a moment before looking up at the words they'd painted on the wall.

"Do you think we'll cover that up?"

"Hopefully, I don't think Brian's parents will appreciate it."

She smiled before looking at Jeff. He was looking back at her and slowly smiled as he wrapped his arms around her. Denise pecked Jeff on the lips but they were slow to pull away and suddenly their lips reconnected. Jeff lifted up his hands and threaded them through her hair. It was silent around them but then Denise heard the soft sound of bells ringing. Just like she had the other night. She pulled away from Jeff and listened.

"What?"

"Do you hear that?"

Jeff listened and he too could hear the bells. However he quickly realised what it was, it was just Jaime. He looked back at Denise and raised his eyebrows.

"That's just Jaime."

Sure enough, a moment later Jaime walked past the room, her anklet bells ringing as she went. Jeff looked back at Denise and smiled at her. However Denise still seemed on edge. He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

"What's up?"

"I heard those bells, before we put them on Jaime's ankles."

He frowned at this. Jeff had heard the others talking about strange things happening. He kept his eyes on Denise as she slowly looked around. There was no such thing as ghosts, they were all just letting their imaginations run away from them. They both looked up as Jaime skipped into the room holding a paintbrush.

"Do you have any walls you have painted yet?"

"Erm yeah...this wall and the one with the bay window in."

Jeff pointed them out before watching Jaime nod as she walked over to one and sat down in front of it. He looked at Denise as saw she was frowning as she watched Jaime. In the next second, Denise was pulling out of his arms as she walked over to Jaime.

"Jaime sweetie, what are you doing?"

"I'm writing my name on all the walls before you paint them!"

"But Jaime...your name's not Isabella."

Denise stared as Jaime put the finishing touches to the 'a', it wasn't Jaime's hand writing. It was almost a scrawl that drifted upwards towards the end. Jaime slowly looked up at her and it unnerved Denise that she was smiling.

"Yes it is!"

"Well what's my name?"

"It's Denise silly!"

She had hoped that Jaime was simply playing a game by calling herself something else but Denise doubted this now. Jaime was now drawing swirls under her name and humming to herself. Denise slowly knelt down beside her and made her look at her.

"Your name is Jaime."

"Not anymore! Now it's Isabella Edwards!"

Before Denise could say anymore, Jaime giggled and jumped up before skipping out of the room. The sound of her anklets ringing slowly faded and then stopped. Denise slowly walked back over to Jeff as he stood up. He was frowning slightly.

"What's the matter?"

"Edwards...that was the surname on that grave out by the hut."

"Was the first name Isabella?"

"No it was Nell."

She frowned as she thought this over. Meredith had said she'd seen the reflection of a little girl. Jaime was acting like a little kid. They had to be connected. Denise slowly walked to the doorway of the room, from where she was stood; she could see Jaime in a room across the hallway. She was drawing a picture on the wall. It seemed someone had only given her white paint to use but she was still painting a picture. Denise walked out into the hallway to get a closer look and saw the picture was a family of stick people. Two tall ones and then three small ones.

Denise jumped as suddenly, Jaime whipped her head around and stared at her. Her face was cold as she glared at Denise.

"You know it's not nice to stare at people."

She swallowed as Jaime's clear, blue eyes continued to bore into her own. Something about her had changed and eventually, Denise had to drop her gaze and walk away. She went back and picked up her paint roller without another word.

* * *

Lauren took a deep breath before opening the door. This was the room where she had seen the writing scratched into the wall. She hadn't told anyone about it as she had convinced herself that she had been seeing things. As she walked into the room, she kept her eyes closed and at the last second, opened them. Sure enough, there was no writing on the wall. Lauren took a deep breath...she must have been dreaming last night.

She started whistling as she set about painting over the wall. It was a nice day outside and the sun shone in through the window. They still had to clean the windows up here but light was still able to get through. Lauren had taken to thinking that the sooner they got the house done, the sooner they could all go home. She stopped painting for a moment and walked over to the window. The lake was as calm as ever. It really was nice here, if there wasn't all the strange things going on, it really would be a lovely place to live.

"No! It's your turn to hide!"

She turned as she heard a voice. It was coming from out in the hallway. It was a girl's voice. Now there were running footsteps and the sounds of laughter. Lauren took a deep breath before slowly walking over to the door. She didn't even make it before something ran past the door. It was a little girl. Lauren jumped back and gasped.

"Remember father said we can't go in the attic!"

She slowly walked forwards and looked up and down the hallway. There was no one there but she watched as the door up to the attic, slowly opened.


	9. Blood Red Symbols

_I do not own the characters, they are based on members of Team StarKid. Any relationships stated are purely for the sake of the story and I am in no way implying that they are real._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Lauren walked up to the attic door. She pulled it open fully and looked up the dusty staircase. They hadn't been up in the attic at all since they had been here. There was some light streaming down to her from the windows up there but it still seemed gloomy. Something was telling her she shouldn't go up alone.

"Joe?"

She looked around as she shouted and a moment later, Joe appeared out of one of the bedrooms. He walked towards her as he saw what she was doing. Lauren looked back up at the stairs as Joe reached her.

"The door was just open, should we go up?"

"Sure."

They both carried on looking up the stairs until Joe laughed slightly. Lauren turned to look at him and saw he was smiling at her.

"You want me to go first don't you?"

That was exactly what she wanted, she wasn't about to go up in to some attic first. Lauren smiled and nodded before holding open the door for him. Joe slowly walked up the stairs. Lauren held her breath as they reached the top. Luckily, with a quick scan on the room, she found it was empty. The attic was just like the basement…full of junk. Near the window was something covered in a white sheet, it was an odd shape and it drew Lauren to it.

Joe watched as Lauren walked up to the white sheet and pulled it off. Underneath it was a large, antique rocking horse. It was a grey colour with a long, flowing tail and mane. The bridal was made of brown leather and so was the saddle. He watched as Lauren suddenly moved forward and squinted at it. He realised there was something stitched into the saddle. It was a name. Isabella.

"Isabella, that's what Jaime keeps calling herself."

He frowned at this. This all had to be one massive coincidence. They looked at it for a moment. There was something strange happening in this house and it seemed to be centred around Jaime and this little girl called Isabella.

"Do you think this Isabella is possessing Jaime?"

He was taken aback by this. Joe turned and looked at Lauren. That was something massive to jump to. Yes Jaime wasn't herself right now but there was no such thing as ghosts and spirits and possession. They both turned as they heard jingling bells and then a gasp from behind them. Jaime was stood at the top of the stairs. Joe pulled Lauren out of the way as Jaime walked slowly towards the rocking horse. She carefully stroked the mane for a moment.

"It was supposed to have been a birthday present, but father gave it to me early when mother fell ill."

Joe and Lauren were frozen in place as Jaime stroked the horse one more time before moving over to a large chest. He slowly looked at Lauren and saw she looked very worried. He tried to hold Lauren back as she walked towards Jaime but she shook him off. Jaime was kneeling in front of the chest now and after a moment, she opened it.

Lauren looked over Jaime's shoulder and into the chest. It was a toy chest. There were lavish porcelain dolls, their dresses and facial features faded from years of neglect. Tatted bears and a wooden skipping rope, the chest was so full. Lauren knelt down next to Jaime as she slowly pulled one of the dolls out.

"Father didn't take any of mine or mother's belongings when they all left. He didn't take my mother's because he blamed her for what happened and he didn't take mine because he couldn't live with the guilt that it was partially his fault. The bastard thought he could run away and forget but we never let him forget, not until the day his sorry life ended."

She tried to think of something to say but Lauren's mind was going at a 100 miles an hour. Jaime kept referring to herself in a plural term. Out by the hut she had said 'we'll make sure she gets it' and now she had said we again. Not only did she seem to know a lot about Isabella's life but her voice had turned so cold when she had spoken of Isabella's father leaving. Suddenly, Jaime looked up at her.

"Can we take these downstairs?"

"If you want."

She smiled as Jaime beamed and nodded. Lauren stood back up as Jaime carefully placed the doll back in the chest and closed it. She walked back over to Joe who seemed to b eyeing Jaime as if she was some wild animal and looked at him. Joe finally looked at her and raised his eyebrows.

"We just need to go along with her."

Joe gazed at Lauren as she whispered under her breath. Go along with Jaime? She was clearly crazy now. She couldn't be possessed, there was no such thing as that. He and Lauren moved over to the chest in silence and picked it up. Jaime led the way down the stairs and they followed behind her. He looked up as they made it down the stairs and were met by Julia. She eyed the chest and raised her eyebrows. Joe shrugged his shoulders before following Lauren into one of the bedrooms. They put the chest down and Jaime sat in front of it again.

"We'll leave it up here and you can take out what you want okay?"

He came up behind Lauren and looped his arms around her waist as she stepped back from Jaime. Jaime seemed engrossed in slowly pulling everything out of the chest and laying it out neatly on the floor. Joe pulled Lauren over to the door where Julia was waiting. They all looked at Jaime once more before slowly walking down the stairs.

* * *

Downstairs, Joe walked a little into the hallway before stopping as something caught his eye. Through the doorway, he could see a painting on the wall. It was a child's painting.

"Jaime painted that."

He jumped and turned to see Denise was watching him. Lauren and Julia had walked into the kitchen where Brian and Meredith were making lunch so he was alone in the hallway. Joe walked into the room Jeff and Denise were painting and looked around for a moment. He stopped as he saw the name Isabella on the wall.

"Did Jaime do that?"

"Yeah she did."

There was something wrong with Jaime. Joe was still refusing to believe it was supernatural but there wasn't really another explanation. They all stared at the name for a moment. Through an archway, he could see into the kitchen where the others were. After a moment, he walked to join them and heard Denise and Jeff follow him.

"We need to talk about Jaime."

Meredith stopped buttering bread and took a moment before slowly looking up at Joe. They did need to do that but how did they go about it? She needed help but how did they do that? She couldn't stop thinking of that little girl she'd seen and finding Jaime out by the lake and then Denise almost drowning. There was too many strange things happening and they had to be connected.

"We need to get her help."

"But what help do we get her? A doctor?"

"A doctor won't help. They'll just lock her up, she needs someone who understands what could possibly be happening."

She could sense everyone holding their breath as Lauren spoke. Doctors would just section her and lock her up. But what help was there then? Mediums? Priests? They needed to know more about the house and what happened here.

"But what is happening Lauren?"

"We can't keep pretending that there isn't something in this house."

"But there isn't anything."

People were getting agitated now. Meredith listened to people argue if ghosts were real or not for a few moments before she took a deep breath.

"I saw the ghost of a little girl on the first day and don't say I was seeing things because I wasn't.

She looked around at everyone with a look of determination in her eyes but stopped as she saw Lauren was staring back at her. It seemed Lauren was summoning up the courage to say something too.

"I heard voices and saw a little girl not a half hour ago."

"I heard bells ringing on the second night which was before we put them on Jaime."

That was Denise, how many of them had heard or seen things? Meredith turned to Brian as he cleared his throat slightly.

"The first night, something woke me up, it sounded like someone was in the bathroom but all they did was turn on the bathroom light and then there was silence and no footsteps of someone walking back."

They couldn't all be lying. There was something in the house and it had taken a particular interest in Jaime. That little girl Isabella, maybe it was just her, maybe she was having a little trouble crossing over. The least they could do was help her.

"We could get a medium or something, they might be able to help."

"They're all fakes and crooks."

"Well getting one will rule out it being something like that."

They weren't in a situation to pick and choose what they did. If there was anything that had a chance of helping, they had to try it. The StarKids spoke for a while longer until it was decided that tomorrow, they would head back into town to research the house and try and find someone who could come and help Jaime.

The rest of the day was mostly spent in silence and soon, they were all getting ready for bed. Lauren looked at Jaime for a moment, she was already asleep in her sleeping bag. She was cuddling one of the bears they had found in the chest. If this Isabella was in fact possessing Jaime than Lauren kind of felt for her, what most it have been like to have been alone in this house for so long? In the attic, she had said everyone had left. Lauren wondered why, could it be connected to those gravestones by the hut? They had to go back and see just what was written on them.

Lauren sighed to herself as she lay down in her sleeping bag. Now that they were starting to look for help for Jaime, she did feel a lot better. Everything would be okay because it had to be.

* * *

Joe slowly opened his eyes as he sensed something stood over him. He almost jumped out of his skin when he saw it was Lauren. She was stood right by his sleeping bag and was staring down at him.

"Christ Lauren! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"I can't sleep."

He stared up at her. Joe couldn't exactly make out her expression in the darkness but she didn't seem fazed by the fact he had jumped awake.

"Can I sleep in here with you?"

"Sure, did you bring your sleeping bag?"

He rubbed his eyes for a moment before opening them and realising Lauren didn't have her sleeping bag. How long had she been stood over him?

"No, it's in my room."

"Are you gonna go get it?"

She slowly shook her head before looking at the doorway. Joe looked at her for a moment more before sighing and unzipping his sleeping bag.

"Get in."

Lauren knelt down and slipped in next to Joe. It was a lot warmer in here compared to the icy cold temperature of the room around them. She snuggled up to Joe as she felt him reach over her and zip the sleeping bag back up. They were pressed so close to each other.

"Is that better?"

"Much."

She smiled up at him and finally Joe smiled too as he kissed her on the forehead. They lay in silence for a while and Lauren closed her eyes. She did feel calmer now.

"So why couldn't you sleep?"

"They won't stop muttering."

"Who? The other girls?"

She kept her eyes closed but she had felt Joe's arms tense around her as she had spoken. Lauren was sleepy now and she hoped Joe didn't ask too many questions.

"No, the girls are all still sleeping, they don't hear them, it's just me."

"What do they say to you?"

"They want me to go out to the lake."

Joe's breath caught at this. Lauren sounded so calm. It even sounded like she was falling asleep. They'd already put bells on Jaime's ankles so they'd hear if she went outside again but now Lauren was starting?

"I'm going to sleep now Joe."

And just like that, he heard Lauren's breathing slowly deepen. Joe kept his arms tight around her and strained his ears to hear anything out of the ordinary. However, even Joe couldn't stave off sleep forever...

Joe slowly opened his eyes and sighed. However he quickly realised how cold it was. It was cold because his sleeping bag was open. It was open because Lauren was gone. He quickly sat up and looked around the room. He stopped as he saw Lauren was sat in the corner facing away from him.

"Lauren?"

He slowly stood up and walked towards her. However she didn't look round at him. Joe stopped a little way from her and stared at her back. What was she doing? He stepped forward, she was too far into the corner for him to see her face so he knelt down behind her.

"Lauren, look at me."

There was silence in the room. He couldn't even hear Lauren breathing. Joe lifted up his hand and it hovered in the air for a moment before he finally brought it down to rest on Lauren's shoulder.

Her reaction was almost instant. Before Joe even had time to think, Lauren had whirled around and pushed him to the floor. Lauren slowly stood up and looked at him. He gasped as he saw her eyes, they were jet black. Joe scrambled away from her as she came towards him.

"Lauren, what's-"

"Lauren's not here."

Joe jumped as she spoke. That wasn't Lauren's voice. It was a deep growl. They stared at each other for a moment before Lauren slowly tilted her head to the side and smiled slightly.

"We're gonna take them all and there's nothing you can do."

Suddenly Lauren jumped the distance between them and pushed Joe to the ground. She was growling and barring her teeth at him. Joe tried to fight her off but her strength was super human. Lauren screamed and clawed at his face. Joe cried out as he felt her nails dig in to his cheek.

Joe jumped awake with a shout. He looked around, it was dark and still around him. Lauren was still nestled up to him in his sleeping bag but it seemed his shout had woken her as she was slowly opening her eyes.

"Joe, are you okay?"

Lauren gazed at Joe. She could feel his chest raising and falling and he was shaking. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly. Joe seemed so scared.

"Yeah, I just had a bad dream."

She watched as he slowly looked around. However, it was then that she saw his whole face. Lauren gasped as she took it in.

"Lo, what is it?"

"Your cheek, there's three scratch marks on it."

She slowly lifted her hand up to touch them and Joe winced slightly as she did. How had he gotten those scratches? Lauren watched as Joe lifted up his hand to feel them himself. Joe looked around and suddenly seemed confused.

"Where are Brian and Jeff?"

Lauren also looked around. They weren't in the boys' room, they were in the room they had spent the night together in the night before. This was strange as she had remembered Joe had gone back into the boys' room just as she had gone back into the girls' room. Lauren tried to remember if they had been in the room when she had come to get in Joe's sleeping bag…but she didn't remember. She wasn't even sure how she had gotten here, the last thing she remembered was falling asleep…in the girls' room.

"Lauren, did you notice Brian and Jeff when you came in?"

"I don't remember how I got here."

Joe stopped at this. Lauren sounded so scared. He could feel her shaking. How could she not remember? They had spoken to each other. He looked into her wide eyes for a moment. They couldn't have just moved, that wasn't possible. Suddenly, they jumped as an ear splitting scream ripped through the house. It sounded like one of the girls. Joe looked at Lauren for a moment before unzipping the sleeping bag and following Lauren out of the room.

Julia was screaming as she stared down at her arms. Scratched into her arms were the words 'no escape' this was surrounded but so many symbols all scratched into her skin too. Blood was dripping down her arms. What the hell was this? She rubbed at her arms as tears rolled down her face. Her arms were burning and suddenly her legs were too. Julia unzipped her sleeping bag and pulled her legs out to find there were symbols on her legs too.

"Julia, what's wrong."

She couldn't look up at Denise as she stood over her. Surely Denise could see. Julia thought she could rub them off but they were still there. All she had been doing was sleeping and then suddenly her arms had started burning. She tried rubbing at her legs but nothing could take the scratches away. Everyone seemed to be in the room now but why weren't they all freaking out? Suddenly Denise was kneeling in front of her and holding her arms.

"Julia, calm down, what's happened."

"Look at my arms!"

Denise did, but there was nothing there. Julia was rubbing at her arms and legs but there was nothing there. She looked around at the others. Jaime seemed petrified and was clinging to Meredith whilst holding her bear. The boys and Lauren were stood in the doorway, seemingly very confused as to what was happening. Denise took a deep breath and looked back at Julia.

"Julia, look at me."

Finally, Julia did look at her. Denise kept eye contact with her and encouraged her to take a few deep breaths which Julia did. There was tears falling down her face and she was shaking but Denise kept calm and this seemed to help Julia.

"What can you see Julia?"

"There's all these symbols scratched into my arms and legs and the words 'no escape'."

She took a deep breath and carried on looking at Julia. Denise didn't turn around as the others gasped. What Julia could see wasn't real or they'd all be able to see it. This was just this stupid house playing with them.

"Julia, we can't see them so that means they probably aren't really there. Now just close your eyes and take some deep breaths and tell yourself that they are not there."

Julia nodded as Denise smiled encouragingly. She closed her eyes and said over and over in her head that they weren't there. As she said it, she did feel calmer and finally, when she opened her eyes, the scratches were gone. There was no blood, no nothing. She slowly looked up at Denise and smiled.

"See, I knew you could do it."

She smiled as Denise pulled her into a tight hug. However Julia was now officially done with this house. So after a moment she slowly pulled away and looked at the others.

"I can't stay in this house anymore."

"I've been thinking that too."

She looked at Lauren as she whispered her view. They couldn't stay in this house, it wasn't safe. Julia turned to look at Brian as he cleared his throat.

"Well we have to stay until the furniture comes and that's only a few days. However I'll tell my parents that once that's been delivered, we're leaving."

This reassured Julia a lot. They only had a few days in this place left now and then they would be off home. Everyone was slow to get back to sleep. Julia felt bad for waking them all but her friends didn't seem to mind. Finally, there was silence in the house once more.


	10. The Accident

_I do not own the characters, they are based on members of Team StarKid. Any relationships stated are purely for the sake of the story and I am in no way implying that they are real._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Julia stared out of the window as they drove into town. She couldn't stop thinking about those symbols. The others had tried to get her to describe them but they were too detailed for her to describe or draw. She was hoping that after doing some random google searches whilst in town today, she would find something. She blinked as she realised Denise had brought the car to a stop. Julia pulled out her phone and sighed, despite now having some phone signal, she still didn't have internet.

They all got out and regrouped on the sidewalk. Julia glanced at Jaime as she looked around in awe. They had taken her bells off so as not to draw attention to her but she was doing that all on her own by happily skipping around.

"Can we get some ice cream?!"

Julia stared at Jaime as she spoke. She wanted to get ice cream? Okay then... She looked round at the others who were all also staring at Jaime. Whether she was acting or not she was doing a very good job at being a little kid.

"Well why don't Lauren, Denise and me take Jaime to get ice cream and you guys can try and find somewhere that has Internet."

"Sounds like a plan."

She nodded at Brian before they split up. The four girls walked down the street to the small diner on the corner. Jaime skipped ahead in front of them before waiting by the door. Julia, Lauren and Denise walked slowly and watched Jaime up ahead.

"Should we treat her like a little kid or like Jaime?"

"Well she is still Jaime."

"But then again she's not."

They all stopped talking as they finally reached Jaime and she smiled at them. Julia stepped forward and opened the door to the diner and they went inside.

Lauren followed the others over to a free table and they sat down. Jaime instantly grabbed the menu and started looking through the desserts. Lauren was sat next to her so looked through with her.

"I wanna get an ice cream sundae!"

"Well you don't want to spoil your dinner."

She gave a stern look to Jaime as she looked up at her and pouted. Jaime finally sighed before looking back at the menu.

"Fine!"

She looked up at Julia and Denise and saw they looked as worried as she felt. Surely Jaime wasn't just acting, this was too convincing.

"How about we get a sundae to share between the 4 of us?"

"Okay!"

They smiled as this was agreed before looking up at the waitress that had come to stand by their table.

"Hello, my name is Anneliese and I'll be your server today. What can I get ya?"

"Erm, we'll have an ice cream sundae to share please."

They all watched as the server wrote this down before she looked up at them again.

"All righty, can I get you any coffee or drinks?"

"We'll just have coffee and Jaime...?"

"Can I have chocolate milk please?"

"Sure!"

The server wrote this down with a flourish before walking away. Julia watched her for a moment before looking back at her friends.

"Oo! Crayons!"

She watched as Jaime dived for the pot of wax crayons in the middle of the table and pulled them towards her. Jaime flipped over her place mat and set about drawing on the blank side. Julia glanced at Lauren and Denise and found they were both staring at Jaime.

For a few moments they watched Jaime before looking at each other.

"So what are we going to do now?"

"Well hopefully the others find someone who can come and help us."

"Or con us and steal our money."

She looked at Denise as she muttered under her breath. Denise was the most sceptic out of all of them and Julia could tell she was wary of them contacting anyone. But if there was someone out there who could help Jaime then it had to be worth a try.

The group fell silent as the server came back over with Jaime's chocolate milk and a pot of coffee. She placed the milk down before pouring out the others' coffee. She walked away with a smile and Julia returned it before looking back at the others.

As they had said last night, getting someone like a medium would rule out that route if it turned out they couldn't help. Then they'd know it was merely medical and could get Jaime some form of medical help. Julia looked up as Anneliese brought over their ice cream sundae with four spoons and set it down. They ate mostly in silence, with Jaime eating most of it herself. Finally they were finished and Julia got Anneliese's attention for the bill.

Anneliese came over with their bill. Denise could see she was looking at Jaime who had now drawn on the back of all their placemats and was admiring her handiwork. She looked back at Anneliese and smiled.

"Jaime likes drawing."

"Okay...anyway, seeing as I pretty much know everyone in this town. I can tell you guys are out of towners."

She laughed at this. They must really stick out in a small town like this.

"Yeah, our friend's family bought the old house up along the north road out of town."

She frowned to herself for as she had spoken, Anneliese's face had fallen. Denise watched as she slowly looked over to the counter before sitting down at the table across from them."

"You don't mean The Willows, do you?"

"Yeah, why?"

She looked around at her friends before slowly looking back at Anneliese. The waitress was biting her lip as if she was debating how to tell them.

"It's just, no one's lived there in decades, not since the accident."

"What accident?"

"The family who lived there had 3 children, two boys and a girl. It's said that one fall, the mother was taken ill but the illness was in her mind."

She held her breath at this. The photo in the sitting room. The family on that had three children. Could it be them?

"The story says she was possessed but I don't believe that, that stuff isn't real right? But that's what everyone believed and they got priests to perform exorcisms on her."

There was silence as Anneliese took a breath. Denise slowly looked round at her friends, they all looked as shocked as she was.

"Did...did they do them in the house?"

"No, the father didn't want the children to see, so they took her out to a hut in the grounds."

A hut in the grounds. It had to be the same one. That chair, they had tied her to the chair. She watched as Anneliese glanced over her shoulder before looking back at them.

"But the kids still saw. They say they used to sneak out and watch at the window."

Lauren slowly looked at Jaime as Anneliese said this. Jaime seemed to not be listening as she looked at her pictures but Lauren could see her hands were shaking.

"After a particularly long exorcism, they left the mother locked in the hut overnight. Somehow, before anyone woke up she escaped and went back to the house. They'd put bells on her ankles so they'd hear her but for some reason, no one heard the bells."

Lauren shivered at this. They put bells on her ankles, just like they had to Jaime. So had the bells they'd found belonged to the mother? This couldn't be all coincidental. She looked back at Anneliese as she took a deep breath, Lauren didn't like where she thought this story was going.

"After it had happened, they found a note from the mother saying that she was sorry but that it was too late for her but she couldn't let them take Isabella too and that she had to put a stop to it. Then she took Isabella out to the lake by the house…and drowned them both."

There was silence as Anneliese finished speaking. Isabella and her mother had drowned in the lake. The lake by the house. Lauren looked at Jaime again and saw she was still staring down at her drawings. She carefully took Jaime's hand and squeezed it.

"How do you know all this?"

Julia was shocked by what Anneliese had told them. It was all falling into place. The hut, the graves, why certain things had been left in the house.

"Everyone in the town knows what happened, it's like a story that's been passed down over the years."

That made sense, it was like small towns to talk. However they hadn't been told any of this. She was sure that when Brian's parent had bought the house, they hadn't been told any of this. They all turned as someone shouted for Anneliese from the kitchen. She slowly stood up but seemed unwilling to leave.

"What was the mother called?"

She didn't know why she asked as she already knew. Julia glanced at the others and saw they were all waiting but that they knew what the answer would be too.

"I think it was Nell. No one ever really talks about her because the people involved tried their hardest to cover up what happened to her. Anyway, I should get going. If you need anything whilst you're here don't think twice about dropping in."

And with that, Anneliese quickly walked away. Julia turned back to looked at Denise and Lauren, they looked as shocked as she felt. Such trauma had happened in the house, it made Julia feel a little queasy. She looked at Jaime and saw she was still staring at her drawings.

"What have you drawn Jaime?"

Lauren watched as Jaime jumped and slowly looked up at Julia. She looked back at the drawings before sliding them towards Julia. Lauren could see the top one was of a woman, in a long white dress. She had no eyes, only dark circles. There were black shapes flying around her head and she seemed to be screaming.

"What are these black shapes?"

"They're the things that were inside my mother's head."

"Like voices?"

"I guess so, she said they used to talk to her."

She pulled the drawings towards her as Julia finished looking at them. There was one of the lake and two figures stood by it. None of the people drawn had eyes, just black circles. Lauren looked up at Jaime and found she was watching her.

"Could you not draw the eyes?"

"They don't have eyes because they didn't see, they didn't see it the way I saw it."

"What didn't they see?"

"The monsters."

She nodded at this as she didn't know what to say. They left what they owed, with a tip for Anneliese before slowing leaving the dinner. They sent a text to the others to see where they were before heading to a book shop/café around the corner that apparently had wi-fi.

* * *

Lauren coughed slightly as they pushed open the door to the bookshop. Piles of books were stacked all around them and the dust in the air had been the cause of her cough. Through the back, she could make out tables squeezed in and their friends crammed around one and all looking at Brian's laptop. They made their way through the maze of books and sat down with them.

"We've found a few people but some of them are quite far away."

This was no good as they needed someone quickly. Lauren glanced at Jaime and found she was resting her head on her hand. Maybe they should get her out of the way for a while.

"Hey Jaime, do you want to go look at the books?"

"Okay!"

She stood up and followed her as she skipped off down one of the aisles. Lauren caught up with her and found she was looking a bright display of kids' books. She looked around herself for a moment. The store hadn't seemed very big from the outside but the aisles seemed to go on for miles. Off to the left was a tiny aisle that had a black curtain over the entrance. Lauren guessed it was simply a storage area but then she saw a little sign above the curtain which said 'occult'. For some reason, Lauren was drawn to it.

Just as she was about to pull back the curtain, Julia appeared in the aisle. Lauren looked at her for a moment before looking at Jaime. Jaime was now sat on the floor engrossed in a book and hadn't noticed Julia appear.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing, it's just this aisle."

Julia looked where Lauren was pointing. There might be something in there that could tell her what the symbols she'd seen meant. She looked back at Lauren for a moment and knew they both mentally agreed to go in. She walked over to the curtain and after a deep breath, slowly opened it.

Julia gazed at the dusty volumes as they walked down the aisle. She didn't know what she was looking for but it felt like the answer to what those symbols were, was in one of these books. Finally, she came to a stop and looked up at a certain book. It was a book on all things supernatural. She glanced up at Lauren who was further down the aisle before looking back at the book. She opened it to the contents page. There was a chapter on using a Ouija board and another on cleansing a house. The final chapter was on summoning spirits. Again, Julia felt drawn to that chapter.

She found the page and slowly glanced through the chapter. The final few pages described how to summon a demon. There was a diagram of the symbols that had to be craved onto the walls or floor or it said they could be drawn straight onto a sacrifice. The symbols Julia was looking out were the ones she had seen on her arms and legs the night before.

"Are you okay?"

She looked up and found Lauren was staring at her. Julia realised she was breathing as if she'd just run a marathon. After a moment, she turned the book round to show Lauren.

"These are the symbols I saw on my arms and legs last night."

Lauren stepped forward and gazed at the symbols. They were detailed sketches and it sent a shiver down Lauren's spine just to look at them. Things were quickly taking on a sinister tone… She looked past Julia as Jaime poked her head around the curtain.

"The others are calling for you."

"Okay, can you tell them we'll just be a minute?"

"Sure!"

She watched as Jaime disappeared before looking back at Julia. Julia seemed terrified as she stared down at the book. Lauren slowly took the book off her and waited for Julia to look up at her.

"Those symbols weren't real and soon we'll be out of here and we'll never have to be in that house again."

She put the book away and smiled at Julia as they headed out of the occult aisle. They passed Jaime who was still sat on the floor and re-joined their friends in the small café area. It seemed they had been able to print off some information about the accident in the lake.

"Deeds told us about what the waitress said."

She sat down on Joe's knee before looking at them all. It scared her that it was such common knowledge and they hadn't been told any of it prior to arriving. There was a tense silence within the group. A middle-aged lady with slightly greying hair came over and asked if they needed anything and even her upbeat smile couldn't break the icy cold wall surrounding the StarKids.

"We've also found someone who might be able to help. He's a medium who lives a few towns over. I called him and he said he'd be able to come and pay a home visit in around 5 days' time."

Joe wrapped his arms around Lauren's waist as he felt her shiver slightly. This was all getting so weird and all he wanted to do was go home. He hadn't told Lauren about his dream, he didn't want to scare her. However all day, he hadn't been able to shake the feeling brought on by what she had said. 'we're gonna take them all and there's nothing you can do', it scared him that, that was more than a dream. She had been acting strangely before she had been asleep and how long had she been stood over him? He pushed the thoughts from his mind.

Soon, everything would be all right because it had to be. They spent some more time printing of information before paying what they owed and leaving the store. The walk back to the cars was silent and so was the car ride home. They were nearly back in the house when Jeff spoke.

"We should go back out to those graves. To see if it really is Isabella's name on the other one."

Everyone slowly agreed with this. This time, it was decided they would all go out to the hut. Joe slipped his hand into Lauren's as they walked into the forest. They were some way behind the others and he looked down at Lauren as they strolled along.

"How are you feeling?"

He held his breath as Lauren slowly looked up at him. His question had clearly confused her and it was taking her some time to formulate a response.

"Erm…I feel fine. But we should be talking about you, how are the scratches?"

Lauren pulled them to a stop and turned to face Joe. She lifted up her hand and let it hover over the three marks. They weren't as bright a red as they had been this morning but they were still visible. Joe had wrapped his arms around her waist and they looked at each other for a moment.

"They don't hurt as much now."

She nodded at this. It scared her that he couldn't to seem to remember how he had gotten them. Lauren looked around them for a moment. The others were all a little further ahead and Jaime was off to their left walking along the shore of the lake. She smiled up at him slightly. His blue eyes were sparkling slightly as he smiled down at her.

"How about after we get back to Chicago we take our own vacation?"

"That'd be nice, but not the country again, I'm thinking more a city break."

She smiled as Joe agreed with this. Lauren looked the way the others had gone and found they had now reached the clearing. She slowly pulled away from Joe and took his hand again. They set off walking and had soon caught up with the others. Julia was crouched in front of the grave in an attempt to clear the grime away.

Julia wiped away the first part to reveal 'In loving memory of Isabella Edwards'. As she wiped away more, they saw there was more writing, 'Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.' The final part was her birth and death dates, she was only 5 years old. She crawled round to the other grave and rubbed the rest of the grime off. Nell's stone had more writing on, 'devoted wife, mother and daughter, taken from this world before her time.' She had died on the same day as Isabella. So the story they had heard about them drowning in the lake was true.

She looked around at the others and found they were all gazing back at her, except for Jaime. Jaime was sat over by the water's edge and staring across the lake. Julia slowly stood up and pointed everyone in Jaime's direction.

"Jaime?"

She slowly walked towards her but Jaime didn't answer her. Julia was reminded of finding her out by the lake on their first morning. She could sense the others were slowly following but then they all stopped as suddenly, Jaime sniffed.

"You weren't supposed to find out."

"What?"

Denise tried not to gasp as Jaime turned around to reveal she was crying. Really crying. They all moved towards her, Julia reached her first and Denise watched as she pulled her into a hug.

"You know now so you're going to send me away but I don't want to go."

She knelt down next to Jaime and rubbed her arm for a moment before taking a breath to speak.

"We're not going to send you anywhere."

"Yes you are because you want Jaime back, you don't care about me."

She looked over at Julia as Jaime whispered her reply. Denise didn't know how to answer this so looked to the offers for help but they were all watching in shock. Jaime was still crying and finally, she wrapped her arms around her too.

"Is Jaime still in there?"

"Yes, she's sleeping…but we won't let her wake up."

She stopped at this. Jaime had just used a plural term. But surely Isabella was just one… Jaime's voice had suddenly turned so cold and she was smiling to herself.

"Why won't you let her wake up?"

"Because she's ours."

Jeff indistinctly pulled both Denise and Julia back as Jaime slowly looked up at them all and spoke with a small smile spreading across her face. She had been quick to stop crying and now she was staring back at them all. They all jumped as Jaime jumped up and started walking back to the house.

"Come on guys! It's almost dinner time!"

And with that, Jaime skipped away from them. Jeff looked around at the others and found they were all staring at each other. What had just happened? Jaime had suddenly become so sinister. But something had been revealed. Jaime was trapped in her own head.


	11. Something Darker

_I do not own the characters, they are based on members of Team StarKid. Any relationships stated are purely for the sake of the story and I am in no way implying that they are real._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

A few days later and the furniture had all arrived. The rooms still weren't all painted but at least they had places to sit now and proper beds. The house was finally starting to feel like a home, despite all the creepy stuff going on. However today, there was a tense atmosphere in the house. The medium was coming to see Jaime today. Everyone was sat around the dining room table, well except for Jaime. She was sat on the floor drawing in a drawing pad she had made them buy her.

"Does anyone want any more coffee?"

Julia tried to sound upbeat as she spoke but she was met but quiet no's or looks. The silence set in once more. She hoped this medium got here soon because she didn't think she could stand this any longer. She looked up as Jaime stood up, carrying her drawing pad and walked over to Lauren.

"Lauren?"

Lauren slowly looked up at Jaime. She was stood right beside her whilst smiling. They were kind of treating Jaime like an unstable building at the moment, in that they were all keeping their distance. However Jaime or Isabella or whoever it was seemed to have latched onto Lauren.

"Yes Jaime?"

"Will you play dolls with me?"

She looked round at the others and found they were all staring back. Lauren looked back at Jaime and found she was still smiling. Finally, she stood up, which caused Jaime to squeal in excitement.

"Okay Jaime, come on."

Jaime ran ahead out of the room to the sitting room. Lauren looked back at the others before slowly walking after Jaime.

Lauren took the doll Jaime handed to her and looked at it. These things really were creepy. Their porcelain faces were cracked and the one she had been handed was missing an eye. She looked back up at Jaime and smiled which earned a beam from Jaime. For a few moments they played dolls and Lauren couldn't help but smile. Despite Jaime clearly not being herself and that being something they had to reverse, she wasn't doing any harm at all. Sure she was having some funny turns but she hadn't tried to kill any of them and Lauren felt that was a good sign.

"You're fun to play with Lauren."

"I am?"

She looked up at Jaime as she smiled and nodded. Lauren hopped her doll around before bringing it to sit next to the others. They both looked around as there was a knock on the door.

"That's them isn't it?"

She looked back at Jaime and found she was looking back at her, her eyes wide with worry. Lauren shuffled towards her and rubbed her arm.

"There is nothing to be scared of, they just want to ask you some questions."

Lauren smiled reassuringly as Jaime thought this over. She looked round as she heard someone go to answer the door and then Julia's voice as she brought them in. She knew she probably had to go and greet them to so took a deep breath before speaking.

"I'm going to go say hello to them. You stay here playing with your dolls 'kay?"

"Okay."

She smiled before standing up and leaving the room. Lauren walked out of the sitting room and found all the others were all already in the hallway. She looked back at Jaime and saw she was still silently playing her game before walking down the hallway. They all awkwardly introduced themselves before waiting for the two men to do the same.

"My name is Roland Parkinson, we spoke on the phone and this is my partner, parapsychologist Dr, Henry Doe."

Meredith smiled weakly at the pair before looking down at the ground. They showed the men into the dining room and they all sat around the table. An awkward silence set in and you could probably have cut the tension with a knife. She looked up as Roland stood up and walked around the room.

"There's something powerful trapped in this house."

They all looked around as if they could see it for themselves. Roland stopped in the doorway and rested his hand against the frame before looking back at them.

"And it's not your friendly little ghost Casper."

She stopped as he said this. Surely it was friendly as Jaime wasn't posing any threat to them. She was just acting like a little kid. Meredith glanced at Brian as he slipped his hand into hers and squeezed it, she squeezed back as Roland sat down once again.

"Now have you got the research?"

Julia nodded and pulled the pile of papers towards herself. Roland didn't exactly give her an uneasy feeling but there was something about him that put her on edge slightly. Henry was walking around holding various machines out in front of him. Julia sorted the newspaper articles and Jaime's drawings into two piles before pushing the articles towards him.

"Here's what we found about the erm…accident."

She gave the papers to Roland and Julia watched as he read through them. As he did, Julia looked through Jaime's drawings. There were so many of Isabella and her mother Nell. However there were ones of the brothers and father too and so many of the lake. The most unnerving one was the one of Nell surrounded by dark shapes. None of the people ever had proper faces, just gaping black holes where their eyes should be. She looked up as Roland coughed.

"Is the lake mentioned the one we passed coming in?"

"We think so, it's the only body of water on the property."

He nodded at this before pulling the drawings towards himself. Julia watched in silence like the others as Roland looked through them all. He stopped on the one of Nell with the dark shapes and looked at it for a moment.

"Did you see Jaime draw these?"

"Some of them but some just seemed to appear."

"Did she say why none of the people have eyes?"

"She just says they didn't see."

Lauren played with her hands under the table. She didn't feel comfortable with discussing Jaime when she may well be able to hear them just down the hall. It felt like they were talking behind her back. She sighed and drew her feet up onto the chair, it was something they had to do she guessed.

"Do you feel this incident is connected to Jaime?"

"Well yeah, apart from drawing these rather sinister pictures, Jaime has been fine. She's just acting like a little kid which is what made us think that it's Isabella that's controlling her.

She held her breath as Roland's expression turned troubled and he stood up again and walked around the room. There was something wrong. Lauren could feel it. She looked around at her friends and saw they were all waiting on Roland's answer with bated breath.

"That's the thing, from what you said on the phone I thought we simply had a case of a little girl who had latched on to your friend and needed help crossing over to the other side."

What? But that was what they had wasn't it? Jaime was acting like a little kid because Isabella was latching on to her right? That had to be the answer. Lauren didn't believe this so she took a breath to speak.

"But you just said there's something in the house, are you now saying there's not?"

"Oh there is something very evil in this house but there is no spirit of a little girl or her mother."

"But we've seen the little girl."

"No you haven't, you've seen what it wants you to see."

A cold shiver went down Lauren's spine. So what was wrong with Jaime? They all turned as Henry gasped slightly.

"We just had a massive temperature drop in the room."

"It knows we're on to it.

Lauren gazed around the room. It had suddenly gotten colder. To say it was the height of summer and the house had no air-conditioning, the room suddenly felt like a fridge. Roland finally sat down again and looked around at them.

"I'd very much like to talk to Jaime now."

"I'll go and get her."

She slowly stood up and left the room. Lauren walked down the hallway, past the foot of the stairs and towards the sitting room whilst thinking over everything Roland had said. How could Jaime be acting like a little kid if it wasn't Isabella's doing? She looked down at the ground and sighed as she walked into the room.

"Hey Jaime they…"

She had stopped talking because as she had looked up, expecting to see Jaime, she had found the room was empty. The dolls were lying forgotten on the ground and so was her drawing pad and crayons. Lauren frowned as she scanned the entire room.

"Erm guys?"

Lauren shouted back to the others whilst walking further into the room. She looked to the right, through the glass doors into the sun room and saw it was empty. Upon looking through the archway on her left, she found the drawing room was empty too. Where the hell was Jaime?

"Lauren what's wrong?"

"Did any of you hear Jaime's bells?"

"No…why?"

"Because she's gone."


	12. What's Your Name

_I do not own the characters, they are based on members of Team StarKid. Any relationships stated are purely for the sake of the story and I am in no way implying that they are real._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Denise followed the others out into the hallway as Lauren spoke. Jaime couldn't have moved without them hearing her. You could hear those bells all over the house. They found Lauren stood in the sitting room doorway, the concern clear on her face.

"I told her to stay in here and play with her dolls."

"Ahh, but what you must remember is that we are not dealing with the spirit of a child who will do what an adult says, we are dealing with something that has had a lot of fun with playing pretend."

She held her breath at this, they walked back down the hallway to where it opened up in front of the stairs. Denise gazed around the room. They were all being deathly silent in the hopes that they would hear sound from somewhere else in the house but there was nothing…until suddenly, a door slammed shut upstairs. She clamped her hands over her mouth to stop from screaming from shock. Denise turned as she felt Jeff's arm around her. She leant back against him and he gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"Jaime?"

She watched as Brian stepped forward and shouted up the stairs. There was no answer. Everyone looked to Roland for an answer as to what they should do next. He was staring up the stairs like them and his face was pale.

"Well, if it wants us to go upstairs, then we should go upstairs."

She slipped her hand into Jeff's as the group slowly made their way upstairs. Brian and Roland were at the front, then Meredith and Julia, then Joe, Lauren, Denise and Jeff and Henry brought up the rear. They made it up to the half landing and Denise looked out of the window at the lake for a moment before they all turned and walked up the last few steps to the first floor. It was even colder up here than it was downstairs.

"The EMF reader is spiking."

From watching way too many episodes of Ghost Hunters, Denise knew that EMF stood for Electro Magnetic Field. High readings indicated paranormal activity or something. She wasn't too sure. They had all stopped at the top of the stairs. The upstairs wasn't open like the downstairs. If all the doors to the bedrooms were closed, the hallway would be gloomy but it wasn't as all the doors were open as they always were. So where had that door slam come from? It was so silent.

"Jaime?"

Joe kept a tight hold of Lauren's hand as Brian shouted again. There was still no answer. They pressed on and reached the doorway of the first room, the girls' room. Nothing seemed out of place and crucially, there was no Jaime. The other four rooms were just as empty. They checked the bathroom, the closet, everywhere. Jaime wasn't anywhere. There was just one place they hadn't looked and it was the only closed door left. The door up to the attic. It seemed the others had all thought the same thing as people were slowly looking at the door.

"Should we check the attic?"

It seemed no one wanted to say yes so eventually, Roland stepped forward and opened the door. Joe had been about to go up but he stopped and turned around as he realised Lauren wasn't moving. He was met by Lauren's terrified face and her eyes were flitting from him to the attic stairs.

"Joe, I don't want to go up there."

He stepped towards her and held her arms. Joe could feel her shaking as he looked directly into her eyes.

"You don't have to go up if you don't want to."

She shook her head before slowly pulling away from him and walking towards her bedroom. It seemed Julia didn't want to go either and Joe watched the two girls walk away before turning back. Everyone was waiting for him and after taking a deep breath, he stepped forward and they all carried on up the stairs.

Brian inched his way up the stairs. The attic was silent. He looked back at the faces of the others before swallowing. They were all on the stairs staring back at him, finally, he turned back around and made it to the top of the stairs. He saw Jaime straight away. She was sat in the far corner of the room facing away from them.

"Jaime?"

He said her name again but she didn't turn around. She was cross-legged and sat up straight, she was perfectly still. They all slowly came up into the attic but kept a fair distance between them and Jaime. Roland took the most steps forward and held his hand out.

"Hello Jaime, my name's Roland, I want to help you."

"Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily life is but a dream."

Everyone stopped, Jaime was…singing. She was repeating the nursery rhyme over and over. Brian looked at the others and they all looked as terrified as he felt. Roland seemed to be getting frustrated as he made them all jump as he shouted.

"We know you're not Isabella so your little game of make believe ends now!"

Jaime stopped singing at once. Brian took a step back as the atmosphere in the room suddenly changed. The air felt almost heavy, but not as if it was humid. He stepped back again until he felt a hand slip into his, Meredith. Brian squeezed her hand and she squeezed back.

"Oh, what a pity, we do like games of make believe."

That wasn't Jaime's voice. There was more than once voice. Brian could make out Jaime's amidst the jumble but it was distorted. There was a growling voice too and she almost seemed to hiss as she spoke. Suddenly, Jaime jerked her head to the side and a sickening crack echoed through the room. What was possessing Jaime?

"Who are you?"

He swallowed as Roland spoke, with a look of determination in his eye. Roland didn't seem terrified but then Brian guessed he was just good at keeping his cool. He could feel Meredith's hand shaking in his so squeezed it again to reassure her.

"We are the waiters; we are the destroyers and won't stop until this world burns."

Meredith held her breath as Jaime finished speaking. This couldn't be happening, supernatural stuff wasn't real. She watched as Roland moved closer to Jaime until he was right behind her. Suddenly, she whipped around and looked at them.

"The scared little mortals. The stench of your fear is sickening."

She suppressed a whimper at this. Meredith took a step back down and bumped into Denise. Jaime was glaring at them all before she slowly smiled. They all stepped back as she turned around and slowly stood up.

"What is your name?"

"We have many. You ask a lot of questions Roland Parkinson."

She stopped at this. Meredith was sure Roland had only said his first name. How did Jaime know his full name? They all shuffled back down the stairs as she walked towards Roland. Jaime stopped just in front of him. Although Jaime was smaller than him, she noticed Roland almost shrink back as Jaime's eyes bore into his.

"What are your names?"

"You'll burn before you hear them."

And with that, Jaime's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed to the floor. Meredith gasped as she waited for Jaime to move, but she didn't. They all looked up at Roland and found he was staring in shock. Jaime was suddenly so still. What did they do now? What had happened to Jaime?

"We need to move her downstairs before she wakes up."

Joe and the others moved forward without a word. He looked at Brian and on three they picked up Jaime. The others led the way down the stairs before they all stopped in the hallway. They had all stopped as Jaime groaned. Roland seemed very concerned as he looked at her.

"We need to tie her down. It might be too late but we have to try and exorcise her."

This made Joe stop. Too late? What did he mean too late? However he nodded like the others before following Brian into one of the bedrooms. They placed her down on the bed and then the scene become like something straight out of The Exorcist as rope was found and her wrist were tied to the rails in the headboard. They all stood back for a moment.

"Now what?"

"Now, we wait for her to wake up and then we start."

"What did you mean by, it might be too late?"

He watched as Roland took a deep breath before speaking again. Joe had a very bad feeling about what he was going to say.

"Multiple demonic possession is very rare and very dangerous. Having so many spirits within her head is crushing her mind, so it might be too late."

Lauren was still out in the hallway but she heard Roland speak. It might be too late? Was there even anything of Jaime left? She guessed they would have to wait to find out.


	13. Night Vision

_I do not own the characters, they are based on members of Team StarKid. Any relationships stated are purely for the sake of the story and I am in no way implying that they are real._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Julia was stood out on the veranda, gazing across the lake. The sun was setting and the darkness of night was fast approaching. Jaime still hadn't woken up. They weren't really sure what had happened, it was like she in a coma. She sipped her coffee absentmindedly as she watched the shadows of the trees lengthen and creep closer to the house.

"Roland and Henry want to talk to us all."

She turned and saw Denise stood in the kitchen doorway. Julia nodded at her before following her back into the house. They walked into the dining room, where everyone was already gathered and sat down. Everyone turned to Henry as he slowly stood up.

"We've placed cameras around the house, just in case Jaime wakes up and somehow gets free."

Everyone nodded at this before a silence set in. No more was said and they all set about making dinner in silence. Julia carried some plates into the dining room and placed them down on the table. She looked around for a few moments, there was a camera in this room, facing out into the hallway. They hadn't started any of them running yet but Julia had an uneasy feeling about them for some reason. She could hear Lauren and Joe talking out in the hallway as they walked up the stairs, heading to take their shift of keeping a watch on Jaime. She sighed as some of the others came into the room with food and they all sat down to eat.

Lauren plonked down in a chair that was positioned by Jaime's bed and looked at her for a moment. She looked so peaceful. Lauren looked back up as Joe as he pulled his chair over to hers. He draped his arm around her and they sat in silence for a moment.

"What's going to happen Joe?"

"We'll get help for Jaime and then we can leave."

"But what if Jaime isn't okay?"

There was silence again as she guessed Joe couldn't think of a response to her question. Jaime had to pull through, for all of their sakes. Why had they ever come here? Everything had gone so wrong. All Lauren wanted was go home, curl up in her own bed and not get up all day. However Lauren had a horrible feeling that she wouldn't get that.

Finally they were all going to bed. Roland and Henry were in one of the twin rooms, Brian and Meredith took the double room. Jaime was in the other double room so Joe and Jeff went in the other twin and the other girls took the other. Lauren padded in their room, she had drawn the short straw so was sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor. Denise was already sat on her bed and Julia was waiting for the bathroom, the sound of her shouting at Brian to hurry the hell up floated into them.

She unzipped her sleeping bag and climbed inside. Lauren set about brushing her hair but looked at Denise as she coughed. It seemed Denise had been watching her as she looked away as Lauren looked at her. She quickly finished up brushing her hair and took the hair scrunchie out of her mouth so she could talk.

"Are you okay Deeds?"

There was a moment of silence between them before Denise finally looked back at her. It seemed she was deep in thought about something and Lauren felt a shiver go down her spine.

"I'm just thinking about Jaime."

They were all so worried about Jaime. All they could do was wait and see what tomorrow would bring and if she would wake up. It seemed Julia had finally been able to get into the bathroom as her constant threats to Brian had stopped. Lauren lay down in her sleeping bag and looked up at the ceiling. Everything would be okay, wouldn't it?

* * *

Denise opened her eyes as she heard a thump from out in the hallway. A moment later she heard a cuss, a cuss in the voice of Meredith. She smiled as she quickly stood up and walked out into the hallway. Meredith was lying in a heap on the floor.

"Erm, Mere, are you okay?"

Her smiled widened as Meredith looked up at her. Meredith pulled herself into a sitting position before slowly standing up. Denise watched as Meredith looked around herself for a moment.

"I tripped over something."

Moonlight was streaming in through the window on the stairs and it was clear there was nothing on the ground. Opposite them was one of the cameras. It's little red recording light told them there were being filmed as they stood here. Denise smiled and waved at the camera which caused Meredith to look round too. The camera was right outside the door to Jaime's room. She carried on looking at it but turned away as Meredith moved.

"I need to pee."

And with that, Meredith continued on into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Denise leant against the stair railings for a moment and sighed. This house certainly had a presence. She turned and looked down the stairs as she heard a creak. It sounded like there was someone downstairs. She looked back at the bathroom door before looking down again. There was more creaking, as if someone was walking around downstairs. Denise moved to the top of the stairs and was about to go down when Meredith came out of the bathroom.

"Where are you going?"

"It sounds like someone is downstairs."

As if to verify this, more creaking echoed up the stairs. Denise and Meredith stared at each other for a moment before silently agreeing to go and investigate. They held hands as they walked down the stairs. The downstairs was pitch black, the only spec of light was the red light on the camera at the other end of the hallway. Denise pulled them into the nearest doorway which was the dining room. The room was empty and after a quick search, they moved into the kitchen. This was empty too. She listened intently but realised, the creaking had stopped. They checked all the other rooms but there was no one.

She shrugged her shoulders at Meredith before they went back upstairs. They had obviously just been hearing things. Denise and Meredith said their goodbyes before going back into their rooms. She checked Julia and Lauren were both asleep before lying down and closing her eyes.

* * *

The next morning, Joe helped bring all the cameras down to the dining room where Henry had two laptops set up. Now they had the task of going through all the footage. There were five cameras so a lot of footage to go through but Henry seemed like an expert.

Whilst they waited, the StarKids set about painting walls again. Joe took his time as he thoughtfully painted. What would the footage show? What were they even looking for?

"Guys! I got something."

That hadn't taken long. Joe put down his paint brush and followed the others into the dining room. Henry had been looking through the footage of the camera in this room first and Joe couldn't believe he'd already found something. He crowded round the laptop with the others, the night vision footage had been paused on what appeared to be nothing.

Once they were all ready, he pressed play and a moment later, Denise and Meredith appeared in the room. They seemed to be looking around as if they were looking for something. He paused the footage as they moved out of shot and everyone turned to Denise and Meredith.

"We came downstairs as we could hear creaking."

Joe watched as Henry nodded at this before pulling up the footage from the other cameras. He started the one from the hallway and sped through to the same time as the dining room one was at. Sure enough, slightly before, Denise and Meredith walked down the stairs and into the dining room. However, he kept it rolling because just as they were out of sight, Julia appeared out of the sitting room and walked up the stairs.

"I didn't go downstairs."

They all looked at Julia as she spoke. She seemed genuinely confused as to how she had gotten there. Julia had to have gone downstairs, the footage didn't lie. Henry rewound the footage, back before Denise and Meredith came down until he stopped it. 20 minutes before Denise and Meredith had come down, Julia had walked down the stairs and into the sitting room.

"I don't remember."

Lauren slipped her hand into Julia's and squeezed it. She knew how Julia felt, she still didn't know how she had gotten into Joe's sleeping bag that night. Julia seemed very distressed by the whole thing so Lauren wrapped her arms around her. She watched as Henry brought up the camera from the hallway upstairs. They soon spotted Julia but then Lauren's blood ran cold because the footage revealed Julia had walked out into the hallway and stopped in the doorway to Brian and Meredith's room, she had then stood there for two hours. Finally she moved away and walked downstairs. A moment later, Meredith appeared out in the hallway and promptly fell over, causing Denise to appear.

"I'd woken because I felt like someone was watching me."

She looked at Meredith as she spoke softly. How could Julia not remember standing there for two hours? Lauren looked back at Julia as she realised how much she was shaking. She rubbed her back and tried to keep her calm. However, before anymore could be said, there was a blood curdling scream from upstairs. Jaime was awake.


	14. The First Attempt

_I do not own the characters, they are based on members of Team StarKid. Any relationships stated are purely for the sake of the story and I am in no way implying that they are real._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Jeff looked back at the others for a moment. They were all stood outside Jaime's room. Everyone was silent so Jaime's screams echoed around them. He looked to Roland for the signal and on his nod, he opened the door. Jaime stopped screaming as soon as the door opened. He took a deep breath before leading everyone inside. They all filed in, keeping as much distance between themselves and Jaime as possible. She glared at them all as they came in.

"You are all spineless cowards! We can smell your fear and you cannot keep us tied up forever."

A shiver went down Jeff's spine as Jaime spoke in the distorted voice she had used yesterday. He watched as Roland took a step forward. Jaime clocked this and her head whipped around to stare at him as her breathing became ragged. He stopped at the foot of the bed and they stared at each other.

"You cannot banish us weak mortal!"

"Be silent! You are the weak ones. Feeding off something else for strength. Without a human body you are nothing! That's why it took so long for you to use your real voices as you are weak!"

"Not are, were. We survived decades in this house with nothing, too weak after being ripped from our host to leave and find a host body but then Jaime here walked right to us."

"Ripped? How were you ripped? Nell drowned."

A small smile foamed on Jaime's face. It was an eerie smile. The temperature in the room suddenly seemed to drop and Jeff felt like there was something pressing on his ear drums. Brian and Meredith had found Jaime out by the lake...

"Nell figured it out, the best way to get rid of us, is to sacrifice yourself and just to make sure we didn't latch onto Isabella, she killed her too. Jaime figured this out too, that's why she tried to drown herself in the lake that night. But we won't be fooled by that twice so we hauled her out and then the lovely Brian and Meredith did the rest."

Meredith felt sick at this. That's why Jaime had been so panicked, she had been trying to fight the demons...and they had made her go back inside. They could have done something then if they had only listened to her. What had they done?

"That was the last time Jaime really put up a fight against us, she was weak anyway but she used the last of her strange to drag herself out to the lake. She tried to tell you about us but you didn't listen."

"This isn't our fault!"

She even gasped herself as she shouted. Meredith had stepped forward without thinking and stared at Jaime as she laughed slightly before tilting her head to the side.

"We never said it was..."

With that, Meredith ran from the room. She could hear Jaime laughing behind her but she didn't stop until she was out on the veranda. Meredith walked up and down for a moment as she tried to calm her breathing. They hadn't known that bringing Jaime back inside was the wrong thing to do, they had been trying to help her. She turned as Denise appeared in the kitchen doorway.

"You okay Mere?"

Was she okay? Meredith felt so guilty. If they had just listened! But there were so many things they could have done differently over the past few days and weeks. She slowly walked over to the bench which now sat a little way from the door and a moment later, Denise joined her. They both looked out over the lake whilst Meredith tried to think of something to say.

"We had the chance then, to change how this all happened."

"They only want you to think that, but in reality, you didn't."

She stopped at this. What did Denise mean? Meredith looked to her for an answer and found Denise was still staring out across the lake. At last she turned to look at her and Meredith could see such sadness in Denise's deep blue eyes.

"They had already taken control of her then. Even if we'd taken her somewhere else, all of this would still have happened."

That was true. The only chance they would have been able to stop this would have been for them to never have come in the first place. Meredith sighed and put her head in her hands. She wanted to go home, but they had to help Jaime get better first. But how long would that take?

* * *

Lauren was sat on Joe's bed as she watched him change his shirt. They would soon be starting the first exorcism. As they didn't know the full power of what the demons could now do, Roland had asked who would be willing to help and Denise, Brian, Jeff and Joe had volunteered. Lauren was worried for Joe, so many things could go wrong. Joe glanced at her for a moment and Lauren guessed the concern was plain on her face as Joe took a deep breath before speaking.

"You need to stop worrying Lo."

"I can't help it."

She watched as he walked over and sat down next to her. They sat in silence for a moment before Lauren suddenly turned and flung her arms around her neck and clung to him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tightly. He'd never show it to Lauren, given the state he was, but Joe was scared for what would happen. They both turned as there was a cough from the doorway. Jeff was stood there.

"We're ready to start."

They nodded at him before he moved away. Lauren looked back at Joe and kissed him quickly before hugging him tightly again. Joe returned the hug before slowly pulling away from her. They said goodbye and then Joe was gone. Lauren stared around the room for a moment before curling up into a ball on Joe's bed as she set in for the wait.

Joe walked out and joined the others. Denise, Jeff and Brian all gave him grave looks before looking away. Henry was inspecting the many pieces of machinery he had and Roland was taking deep breaths as if he was preparing for what would happen. They needed to know how this would all pan out.

"Roland, have you done an exorcism before?"

There was silence for a moment as everyone turned to Roland to hear what his answer would be. None of them had any idea what they were doing, what if Roland didn't?

"Yes I have. The Catholic Church may have revised their guidelines on exorcisms but they are still easy to get if you know where to look."

"Revised them?"

"As of 1999, for a Catholic exorcism to take place, the person must have a full medical examination to rule out everything else but luckily for us they aren't the only ones who can perform exorcisms."

There was silence for a moment. This was all so real. Joe was so overwhelmed, could they really do this? It seemed Roland picked up on this as he suddenly looked at them all, one at a time.

"It doesn't matter what religion you are, whether you believe in God or not but you can't deny that there are evil forces within your friend and it is our duty to help her."

This seemed to calm everyone a little as Joe watched as they slowly nodded. Roland stepped towards the door and after a moment's pause, they were all walking in. Jaime glared at them all as they came in. She tried pulling her wrists put they were tied tightly to the headboard.

"You know we've been through dozens of exorcisms, they really aren't the best way to get rid of us."

"And what is the best way?"

"To kill the host body. If you kill Jaime now, then this will all be over."

"You lie! There are other people in this house, you would merely jump to another."

Silence followed Roland shouting. Joe turned to Jaime and found she had tilted her head to the side slightly as she looked at Roland.

"You're different to the other priests, shamans and witchdoctors we've come into contact with Roland."

"That's because I've had firsthand experience of things like you and I lived to tell the tale."

"Ah yes, we can see now...but it'd didn't make your mother love you did it?"

Denise's eyes widened at this. What was Jaime talking about? She looked back at Roland and saw he was shaken but the question hadn't deterred him. He stepped closer and held his hand out in front of him.

"By the power of God, I demand you to tell me your names!"

"God has no power over us. We sided with Lucifer at The Fall and fell with him."

"You left because you were too scared to stay. Now tell me who you are!"

"We are but four within the legions of Baal. We have no names. The Kingdom of Hell is so much more than the burning pits of despair the mortals make it out to be."

There was a tension building in the room. They had to do something, the demons were stalling by telling this story. They could go around for hours if they didn't get started. Denise fidgeted and Jaime looked at her. Her blue eyes bore into her so much so that Denise had to take a step back.

"You grow impatient don't you Denise? Is our story boring you?"

Before she could answer, Roland spoke and finally, Jaime looked away from her.

"You will speak only to me. Did Baal send you to undo the work of good?"

"Yes."

"Well we are sending you back."

She watched as Roland pulled something out of his coat. It was a small vile of liquid but it seemed to scare Jaime as her eyes widened. The room suddenly went icy cold and a there was a gust of wind. Roland slowly walked towards Jaime whilst opening the vile. Jaime tried to crawl away but with her hands tied, she couldn't.

"You know what this is, holy water is toxic to demons is it not?"

Jeff slowly moved towards Denise as Jaime whimpered and tried to move away again. He took her hand so that he was ready to hold her back if need be. This could get very bad.

"I will give you one last chance. Leave Jaime's body or we will use force."

"You have no control over us!"

Jaime's voice was almost a roar as she spat back at Roland. She pulled her legs, which were also tied down and there was a deep creek from the bed. How strong was Jaime? Suddenly she was growling at Roland but she wasn't speaking English, it sounded like Latin. There were so many voices coming from her mouth at the same time, all screaming at Roland as he finally stopped right next to her.

"By the power of everything right and just in this world, I command you to leave this body!"

And with that, some of the holy water dropped onto Jaime. Her scream was almost deafening. There was a loud hissing sound but it didn't burn Jaime's skin, she still seemed fine. However, the demons seemed to have also quickly recovered and they were angry. There was a ripping sound and then suddenly, the rope was gone and Jaime was standing up on the bed. She swept her hand towards Roland and although she didn't touch him, he still flew across the room and hit the wall.

"We are older than time itself, holy water is mortal made and cannot harm us."

Jeff pulled Denise back against the wall and stood in front of her. Brian and Joe had also backed up against the wall and they all stared at Jaime. Roland groaned but Jeff was too scared to take his eyes off Jaime to see if he was okay. Suddenly, everyone's attention turned to Henry as he pulled out a gun and pointed it at Jaime.

"Go on Henry, kill Jaime. We possess females and there is another female in this room so then if you kill her and then the three others in this house then you will be rid of us."

He could see Henry was shaking as he stared at Jaime. She smiled as she walked to the end of the bed, they were stood so close. A shiver went down Jeff's spine as Jaime slowly smiled. However this caused as lack in his concentration as suddenly, Denise was walking out in front of him and over to Jaime. No!

"Let Jaime go!"

He felt like his legs had stopped working. Jeff had to pull Denise back! He couldn't let her get hurt! However he could only watch as Jaime slowly turned and looked at Denise.

"You stand up for what is right Denise but ultimately, this will bring about your downfall."

He could only watch as Jaime stepped down off the bed and walked over to Denise. As she came closer, it seemed something was pulling Denise down as she fell to her knees. Jaime loomed over her and there was silence for a moment.

"Jaime came to us, the first day you arrived. She walked into the basement and right to us. We heard you, shouting down instructions to her. Imagine if it had been you who had come down, this would be you instead of Jaime."

Denise stared up at Jaime. She couldn't stand up. It felt like something for holding her down. Jaime smiled slightly at her fear. Suddenly, Jaime was leaning down and whispered in her ear.

"It isn't time for you to die yet Denise."

As Jaime stood back up. Denise felt a pulling on her ankles. She flew forward onto her stomach and was being pulled over to the door. What was happening? She looked at Jeff as he stared in shock but in the next second, the door was swinging open and she was being pulled out of it. The pulling stopped and the door slammed shut in her face. No! She stood up and tried the handle but it wouldn't budge.

"Denise?"

She turned and saw Lauren, Julia and Meredith huddled together in one of the rooms. Denise almost ran to join them and sobbed as they pulled her into a hug. They asked her what was wrong but she couldn't speak. The demons had separated them. What was Jaime going to do to those left in the room and why had she let Denise go? A shiver went down Denise's spine, the demons had said they possessed women and now here they all were...sitting targets.

Brian took a deep breath before looking at Jaime again. Now Denise was gone, Jaime had turned her attention back to Henry who was still pointing the gun at her. Someone had to do something! But what?

"What does it feel like Henry?"

He stopped at this, what was Jaime talking about? It seemed the questioned had confused Henry too as he stared at Jaime. Jaime was smiling.

"You see that's what we don't understand. Why are you finding it so hard to pull the trigger and kill Jaime? You've killed before."

"No I haven't!"

"What's it like Henry, living everyday knowing you murdered your wife."

What was Jaime talking about? Brian looked at Henry and saw the colour had drained from his face and he dropped the gun as he stumbled backwards. Jaime walked towards him and laughed as she stumbled backwards again.

"I didn't kill her, she died in the car accident."

"Which was your fault, you weren't concentrating and the road was icy. You pulled your daughter from the car and let your wife die!"

How did Jaime know this? Brian was too shocked to even move and do anything at all and it seemed Joe and Jeff were the same.

"My wife told me to save our daughter. She was too badly injured and knew she wouldn't have survived but Maria could."

"But Maria wishes it would have been the other way around doesn't she? She wishes you were the one to have been stuck in the car and she and her mother escaped. She blames you completely for the death of her mother. She would rather you have died!"

Brian was shaking. How could the demons know this? What did they know about all of them? These mind games were going to rip them all apart. Henry had his head in his hands but this only made Jaime laugh.

"You silly mortals, how you cling to your mortality and yet deem immortality to be so unethical. Shall we grant Maria her wish?"

Jaime slowly raised her hand and with it, Henry rose off the ground. Joe tried to step forward but Jaime waved her hand and he flew back against the wall. Henry was now a good way of the ground and Jaime slowly made her hand into a fist. This seemed to effect Henry as suddenly, he was gasping for breath and pulling at this neck. Brian tried to moved but there was suddenly a force pushing him against the wall. He closed his eyes and finally, Henry stopped making sounds and a moment later there was a thud as he hit the ground.

"Now what sins are the rest of you hiding?"


	15. One Of Many Names

_I do not own the characters, they are based on members of Team StarKid. Any relationships stated are purely for the sake of the story and I am in no way implying that they are real._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Jeff watched as Jaime happily sat down on the floor whilst humming 'Row, row, row, your boat'. She seemed so carefree about everything. Apart from Jaime singing, there was silence in the room. Joe was lying on the ground and Jeff looked down as he winced. Jeff couldn't move off the wall, Jaime seemed to be enjoying having all the power. He tried not to look at Henry's lifeless body. Jaime had killed him, no, the demons had done it. This wasn't Jaime.

Suddenly, the silence was shattered as Roland scrambled to his feet and glared at Jaime. Jeff had thought he'd been unconscious, it seemed Jaime had thought this too as her eyes widened. She tried to react but Roland was too fast.

"By the power of all that is good in this world, I command you to leave this body!"

Brian was suddenly able to move again, the force pushing him back was gone. Roland was advancing towards Jaime, holding a cross out in front of him. This seemed to have an effect on Jaime as she fell backwards and tried to pull herself away.

"You shall be still! I command you to leave her body or we shall cast you back into the bowels of hell."

There was silence for a moment, the only sound came from Jaime's  
ragged breathing. Her eyes had suddenly lost their coldness, as she turned to look at him, all Brian could see was fear.

"Brian you have to help me."

There was only Jaime's voice, no others. The distorted voice had gone and the only voice coming out of her mouth now was Jaime's terrified one. Brian stared at her, had the demons gone? But where could they have gone?

"Brian please help me! Roland's the one controlling the demons! He's going to kill us all!"

He slowly turned and looked at Roland. The middle aged man was staring back at him wide eyed. Jaime was sobbing and her cries filled the now silent room. Brian took a step towards Jaime but stopped as Roland held his hand up.

"This isn't Jaime."

"Brian he's lying! He's the outsider and can't be trusted! If we kill him everything will be okay again!"

Despite Roland's warnings, Brian crouched down close to Jaime. She looked so scared, her whole body was shaking as tears fell down her face. Brian looked at her for a moment. This seemed so much like Jaime…but there was one difference.

"Jaime has trouble killing bugs, never would she want to kill a person."

He looked at Jaime as her face fell. Her eyes were turning cold and suddenly, she was gritting her teeth and growling at him. Brian didn't have time to move before Jaime was falling towards him and pushing him to the ground. Her hands closed around his neck and Brian couldn't breathe. He tried to push her off but Jaime wouldn't budge. He coughed as her hands squeezed tighter.

"Get her off him!"

Joe dragged himself to his feet. His back hurt from hitting the wall but this didn't matter as he knew he had to help Brian. He reached them the same time as Jeff did and they hauled Jaime off Brian. She was strong and thrashed around as they pulled her off but with the two of them, they were stronger. Jaime screamed as they pinned her onto her back.

"We will slaughter everyone who you have ever cared about! Starting with the four girls in the room just down the hall."

He tried not to listen to Jaime as she spoke slyly. The demons couldn't do anything as they were all inside Jaime, they could only make Jaime do things, couldn't they? However then, they heard an ear splitting scream coming from outside of the room. Lauren. Joe slowly looked down at Jaime and found she was smiling up at him.

"What do you do now Joe? Do you stay here, making sure we don't move or go and see if Lauren's okay?"

He looked up at the door for a moment. Joe could hear the other girls shouting but above all that, Lauren's screams. He looked up at Jeff and Brian. Brian had now recovered and was holding Jaime's legs down. Roland was stood over them and was staring at Joe as he looked up at him.

"Joe, you know there'll be nothing wrong with her."

But what if there was? Joe looked at everyone once more but they all looked up as the door slowly swung open. He looked down at Jaime as she giggled.

"She could be dying Joe…"

This pushed Joe over the edge and in the next second, he was scrambling to his feet and running from the room. He heard a crash from behind him but he didn't turn to look back. Joe stopped in the hallway as he took in the scene before him. There was so much blood. Lauren was bleeding, badly. She was hunched over and clutching her stomach but blood was seeping through her hands. He rushed forward and knelt next to her.

"What happened?"

"We don't know, she just started bleeding."

Lauren screamed again as more pain stabbed into her stomach. What had happened? One minute she had been trying to listen to what was happening in Jaime's room with the others and the next it had felt like something was ripping her open from the inside. She looked up at Joe as he pulled a piece of hair behind her ear. Lauren was scared. She didn't know where she was bleeding from, it seemed to be everywhere.

"We need to get help!"

She heard Julia shout but she seemed so far away. Lauren was suddenly aware of wetness on her face. She lifted up her blooded hand to find blood dripping from her nose, it seemed to be getting heavier and suddenly, it was pouring out.

"Joe."

She whispered his name and closed her eyes. Lauren felt so weak, and her head felt cloudy. Joe pulled her into his arms and cradled her. There was suddenly a loud bang from the room next door and Lauren could hear the boys shouting. How had this happened? She just wanted to go home, that's all she wanted.

"Blood is such a funny colour isn't it?"

She jumped and looked up as someone spoke. It was Jaime. She was stood out in the hallway. Lauren watched as she smiled slightly.

"It's so red."

There was blood dripping from her fingers. What had she done? Lauren couldn't hear Brian, Jeff and Roland, there was only silence. Jaime's eyes were almost glowing as she stared at them.

"It's almost over now but will it be a happy ending for you, or us?"

And with that, Jaime jumped over the banister and out of sight. The pain Lauren had been feeling was suddenly gone. In fact, all the blood had just disappeared. There was nothing. Lauren looked up at Joe for only a moment before he pulled her into a tight hug. They both turned and watched as Denise and Meredith scrambled out of the room to find out if Jeff, Brian and Roland were okay.

Denise ran into the room and looked around. Jeff was lying on his back by the bed, his nose bleeding. She ran towards him and knelt down.

"Jeff?"

She shook him slightly and breathed a sigh of relief as Jeff groaned. He finally opened his eyes and looked up at her.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah…"

She helped him sit up and watched as he inspected his nose. Had Jaime punched him? Denise turned and saw Meredith was helping Brian sit up and Roland was already getting to his feet.

"We can't let her leave the house!"

He rushed from the room and without thinking, Denise pulled Jeff to his feet and followed, knowing Brian and Meredith were behind them. The others had noticed Roland racing downstairs and were out in the hallway too. However they all turned as they heard Roland gasped. He was stood on the half landing and staring down into the downstairs hallway.

They all walked down as a group to where Roland was. Denise tried not to scream as Jaime came into view. She was facing away from them and kneeling down but she was bent over backwards so she was looking at them upside down. Her pupils had dilated so hardly any of her bright blue eye colour was visible.

"Jaime's dying, we can feel her ebbing away. You rip us out and it'll rip her apart."

This stabbed at Julia's heart. All she wanted to do was run and hug Jaime and tell her everything would be okay. Tears welled up in her eyes. Jaime gasped slightly as a sickening crack came from her back and she bent further backwards.

"You know the way this is going to end. Leave and let Jaime spend her final moments as herself."

"We can't leave now, we're too connect to her."

"Then let us exorcise you and you can leave."

"Maybe it would be for the best…"

Her distorted voice was quieter now, as if the demons were really contemplating leaving Jaime. But they had said Jaime was dying, would them leaving really do any good?

Lauren watched as Jaime slowly uncurled herself. There were more sickening cracks as her back strengthened back out. She slowly stood up and turned and looked at them all. No one moved for a moment but then Roland coughed and walked the rest of the way down the stairs.

"We need a chair, with arms."

The group moved into action and soon a heavy chair with arms had been pulled into the hallway. Lauren shivered slightly as she noticed Roland pulling something out of the bag he had brought with him. His was holding two leather cuffs which could be tied to something and then pieces of leather with buckles on. She turned and saw Jaime had already sat down in the chair and was waiting expectantly.

"Shall we get started then?"

They tied Jaime to the chair without a word. The cuffs went around her wrists and then the leather straps were tied around her arms and legs. Lauren stepped back and folded her arms so her shakes wouldn't show. She glanced at Julia and found she was as white as a sheet. Lauren turned to look at Roland as he held his cross towards Jaime. This did seem to affect her as she winced and looked away.

"You are invading the body of living soul and using it for your own devices. I command you undo this ungodly act and leave this body."

She held her breath as Roland shouted at Jaime. His words echoed around the hallway but nothing seemed to change. Jaime slowly turned and looked at him with her eyebrows raised.

"Is that all you've got?"

This seemed to frustrate Roland as he pushed the cross closer Jaime. Then he started shouting none stop, over and over, screaming at the demons to get out but still nothing happened. Lauren slid down the wall and brought her knees up to her chest. What if this didn't work? However, it seemed now Roland was taking a different approach.

"What right do you have to be inside Jaime?"

Julia's eyes widen as Jaime gritted her teeth and slowly looked up at Roland. She had gone from looking slightly amused to angry in a second. Her whole body was moving as she breathed in and out of her nose like a bull that was getting ready to charge.

"We don't need a right!"

Her voice was a roar as she bellowed back at Roland. The whole house seemed to shake as she screamed. Julia huddled back against the wall and tried to keep as still as possible. It was so cold, as she breathed out, Julia could see her own breath.

"Of course you need a right! You can't just possess a mortal! Or maybe you had a reason to; maybe you envy the humans that walk the earth. Maybe you want to be human."

Jaime screamed at this and pulled at the straps tying her down. The windows in the hallway were suddenly rattling in their frames as a strong wind rushed around the room. A door slammed shut and suddenly, the sound of smashing glass as one of the windows smashed and caused glass to explode across the hallway.

"How dare you accuse us of wanting to be filth like you! We possess you as you mindless pigs need to be controlled!"

"Then why aren't more people possessed? You hear stories but they can mostly be explained away by medical reasons, if more people were actually possessed it would be fact and not mostly fiction."

Julia covered her ears as Jaime suddenly started screaming again. Her face contorted into something that wasn't human and the pitch of her scream was almost deafening. Jaime was pulling at the leather straps holding her down and then there was a loud, deep snapping noise. Julia looked up and gasped, Jaime was standing up from the chair but she hadn't snapped the leather straps, she'd ripped the arms completely off the chair.

"I was willing to work with you but I will not be insulted by you inferior creatures. Jaime is mine and if you take her away I will kill her."

Joe slowly looked up at this. Jaime wasn't talking in plural terms anymore. He watched as she slowly unstrapped her arms and legs and let the straps fall away. There was silence in the hallway as she stepped towards Roland. There were four demons, weren't there?

"You are not four in the legions of Baal are you?"

"No."

"What is your name?"

"I have many."

She wasn't talking in the distorted voice anymore. Jaime's voice wasn't even there anymore, she was instead talking in a deep growl. Just like the voice Joe had heard Lauren speak in, in his dream. Jaime was walking around the chair now, looking at them all individually.

"Since the dawn of time, all of mankind has agreed on one thing. That there are powers of good and evil. Almost every religion and culture on the planet believes in the idea of an evil being."

"Say your name."

He held his breath as Jaime slowly turned and looked at Roland. From what she had said, Joe had a horrible feeling he knew what she was about to say. But it couldn't be, these things weren't real but as Jaime slowly smiled, he had to believe that they were.

"The Evil One, The Prince of Darkness, The Serpent, The Awful Monster, Beelzebub, Lucifer... The Devil."

There was a rumbling sound as she whispered the final one. Satan was possessing Jaime? This was all too much, why was it all happening to them, here. Joe didn't understand, he didn't want to understand. They were dealing in things far greater than anything in this world.

"Did you possess Nell as well?"

"No, she was possessed by four in the legions of Baal but they were cast back into Hell when she died. However the portal they were sent through was never closed as there was no one there to close it, so I came through."

"What business do you have in the world above?"

"To take what is rightly mine."

Brian moved to the side slightly in the hopes of reaching Meredith's hand but Jaime noticed his movement. There was a rushing sound and suddenly everyone had been thrown against the walls, all except for him and Meredith. He could hear the cries of pain of his friends but he didn't take his eyes off Jaime.

"The cute little couple. You want to ask Mere the big question don't you Brian? But you're worried she'll say no because who would she want to marry someone like you?"

He slowly looked at Meredith and found she was staring at him wide eyed. They all turned as Roland slowly approached Jaime.

"Let her go, you may have turned your back from God but you still fear him. By the power of God I command you to leave this body."

Roland held the cross above Jaime's head and she slowly sank to her knees. There was a pained expression on her face as she glared up at Roland.

"I do not fear Him."

"Yes you do, otherwise hearing His name and seeing a cross would not have such an effect on you. The power of God compels you to leave this body!"

"Very well, if that's what you want..."

There was a loud ripping sound and Brian watched as Jaime fell backwards and contorted her body in an impossible way. Jaime was suddenly screaming but she sounded like she was in pain. Her back lifted off the ground and she started shaking. There was a deep rumbling filling the entire house, it sounded like thunder but it was so loud. Finally, Jaime stopped shaking and her body relaxed out of its contorted state. The rumbling stopped too and there was silence for a moment...before Jaime's sobs filled the air.

It took Lauren a moment to process that Jaime was crying before she rushed forward. She slowly knelt down next to Jaime. Was she still being possessed? Jaime slowly looked at her and her eyes widened.

"Lauren?"

It was Jaime. Lauren held her hand and squeezed it. She looked up as Julia knelt on the other side of Jaime and held her other hand. Jaime winced in pain and closed her eyes.

"Do you remember what happened?"

"No, all I remember was being down in the basement."

Lauren tried not to cry herself as tears fell down Jaime's face. She looked up at the others who all seemed in a state of shock.

"We need to get her to a hospital!"

This sparked everyone into action but Lauren felt it was too little too late. They were so far from the nearest hospital and as Jaime suddenly coughed and blood spluttered out of her mouth, Lauren knew they wouldn't make it. Lauren pulled out a tissue and wiped away the blood from Jaime's mouth.

"Where does it hurt Jaime?"

"Everywhere."

She squeezed her hand reassuringly. Roland slowly came over and knelt down before placing his hands on Jaime's head. Lauren brought her eyes up to meet his as he looked at her.

"That thing has gone, this really is Jaime."

"But your exorcism didn't work! Jaime's dying!"

"The demon did this."

Tears did fall down Lauren's face at this. No, this couldn't be happening. What had that thing done? It had hurt Jaime, she would have been fine if it had just left. Lauren brushed the hair off Jaime's face. The others seemed to be running around like headless chickens in their panic to get ready. Roland slowly stood up and moved away.

"We can't be sure it still isn't here."

She barely heard him, all that mattered now was Jaime. Lauren looked down at her as she squeezed her hand. Jaime was so pale and it seemed to be taking all her energy just to formulate a sentence.

"I...I just wanted to say that you...g-guys were the best...roommates I ever had."

"Not were Jaime, are."

Jaime smiled slightly at this but Lauren's heart still fell as she winced again. Suddenly, she opened her eyes wide and gasped for breath. Her whole body was tensing up and Lauren panicked and let out a sob as she shook Jaime.

"No, no Jaime! You can't leave!"

There were arms around Lauren, lifting her away so she couldn't shake Jaime anymore. Lauren realised it was Joe and fought against him as she looked down at Jaime. She was still gasping for breath. No, she couldn't die. However, after a moment, she slowly stopped gasping and sank back into the ground and let out one, final breath.

"NOOOO!"

Lauren thrashed against Joe as he pulled her backwards. She sobbed as she looked down at Jaime. Jaime couldn't be dead. Joe kept his arms around her and held her tightly. Julia had pulled Jaime onto her knee and Lauren could see tears falling down her face. Lauren could hear the others crying but all she could see was Jaime. She finally stopped trying to pull away from Joe and let him turn her around, she buried her face into his shirt and cried.


	16. Not Over Yet

_I do not own the characters, they are based on members of Team StarKid. Any relationships stated are purely for the sake of the story and I am in no way implying that they are real._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Everyone was silent as no one knew what to say. What could they say? Their friend had just died. A demon had taken over her body and they had tried to help her but she had still died. Lauren tried to take deep breaths but she couldn't. Joe rubbed her back as Lauren closed her eyes and gave up trying to stop her tears.

Meredith stared into space as the police officer spoke to them all. She wasn't even listening to what he was saying. He'd been saying something about a full investigation would be done into just what happened. Their main question was 'how had Jaime and Henry died?' They had told the police what had happened but with no evidence, the police did not believe there had actually been a demon. The police had been quick to warn them that they could be held responsible for what had happened. This could all be blamed on them but they hadn't done anything, the police had to believe them. There was something in this house. But was it still here?

She watched through the doorway as a body bag was wheeled out on a gurney. Jaime was property of the coroner now as the investigation began. Meredith snuggled more into Brian who she was leaning against. She suddenly remembered what Jaime had said, that Brian wanted to ask her the big question. She guessed the big question was marriage. Meredith made a mental note to ask him about it when they were finally back home. Which would be soon, tomorrow they were all going home. The police had wanted them to stay but they had finally agreed to let them go.

"Tom, you have to believe me, that girl was possessed."

"Roland, why are you still insisting on this nonsense? For years you have been obsessed with this idea of demons and spirits and ghosts."

"But they are real!"

"You have to see this from my point of view. I have come into this house and been told that a man has been strangled and then you went on to exorcise the woman who did it and as a result of that, she died."

She watched as Roland paced around before staring at the police chief in exasperation. It seemed the chief knew of Roland from the way there were talking. Roland suddenly looked up and saw they were all looking. They stared at each other for a moment before he pulled the chief out of hearing distance. Meredith sighed and closed her eyes.

Finally, all the police and other officials were leaving and there was silence in the house. Joe had his arms wrapped around Lauren, he could still feel her shaking so held her tighter. This was all finally over. He looked up as Roland came back into the room. He sat down so that he was facing them all.

"I've walked the house and there is something. It's not the same as when I first arrived but there is still a presence."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't think it's the demon or the devil or whatever that thing was it's like there's an almost buzzing in the air."

"Can you get rid of it?"

He watched as Roland pulled a hand through his hair. There was an eerie silence in the room. Joe rubbed his hand up and down Lauren's arm and kissed her softly on the top of her head. He looked back up as Roland sighed.

"I don't know, I can't get a proper lock on it, it's like it hiding just out of sight."

As he said this, a cold wind blew through the house. Joe looked around and held Lauren tighter. There was silence for a moment, from this silence, Joe took there was little Roland could do. However he finally sighed and looked at them.

"I'd advise you to leave the house but the presence might not be in the house, it might be in one of you."

This made Joe shiver; the presence could be inside one of them? So one of them could be being possessed right now? He looked around at the others and saw they were all doing the same. It felt like they couldn't trust anyone.

"I can cleanse the house but it might not do anything, your best bet is to leave tomorrow."

Everyone nodded at this. Roland went apart cleansing the house with holy water and muttered phases in Latin as he went. The StarKids huddled together until finally Roland said his goodbyes and left. It was already late now, so the group said their goodnights before heading to bed.

* * *

Lauren smiled as Joe kissed her on the forehead. She sighed happily before slowly closing her eyes. She sensed Joe lie down next to her and there was silence in the room. It was over; it was all, finally over. They had won. They were finally leaving this place tomorrow and Lauren couldn't wait to get back home. She curled up into a ball and in no time, she was drifting off to sleep.

She woke up as she heard soft footsteps from somewhere close by. Lauren sat up, but there was no one in the room.

"Joe?"

She looked down at Joe but he was still asleep. Lauren shook him but he didn't wake up. It was like he was unconscious or drugged. There were still footsteps echoing around the room. No. It couldn't start again. Lauren shuffled over to Joe and shook him again.

"Joe, please wake up."

Lauren could feel herself shaking. The footsteps now sounded like they were right behind her. She took a deep breath before slowly turning around, but there was no one there. Suddenly, she looked down as she heard a rustle coming from under the bed. It was under the bed.

"Joe…"

She whispered Joe's name as she felt behind her to make sure he was still there. Lauren could barely breath she was so scared. A soft growl came from under the bed. She shuddered and stared intently at the edge of the bed, too scared to look away. However there was suddenly movement from behind her. Lauren jumped and glanced over her shoulder and that was all it took. In the next second, something had grabbed her ankle and was pulling her off the bed.

"JOE!"

Joe jumped as he heard Lauren screaming his name. He felt groggy, as if he was waking from a deep sleep. He looked to his side and saw Lauren was gone, but he could hear her. Joe jumped off the bed and ran out of the room. He found Lauren out in the hallway on the floor. She was holding onto the banister will all her might.

"Lauren!"

However, just as he reached her, Lauren lost her grip and was pulled further down the stairs. Joe's mind still felt groggy and his limps seemed slow to react but he still stumbled down the stairs. All he could hear was Lauren screaming but it sounded so far away. Then it felt like something hit him square in the chest and in the next second he was falling backwards.

Lauren screamed as she watched Joe fall. He hit his head on the stairs with a loud thud. Lauren tried to crawl towards him but then the pressure was back around her ankle and she was being dragged backwards again. Lauren thrashed as she was pulled and screamed but then it felt like something had clamped over her mouth and she couldn't make a sound.

"Row, row, row your boat…gently down the stream…"

She cried as she heard the soft voice ringing through the house. Lauren grabbed onto the doorframe of the kitchen and held on. She kicked her legs but whatever had her was holding her legs off the ground and it was hard to fight back against something you couldn't see. Finally, Lauren couldn't hold on any longer and the invisible force pulled her through the kitchen and down the stairs into the basement. The door slammed shut behind them.

Julia sat bolt upright in bed as she heard a door slam. There was complete silence now but Julia knew something was wrong. She slowly turned to look at Denise who was asleep in the other bed. Julia stood up and went up to her before shaking her awake.

"Deeds, wake up."

"Whhhhaaatt?"

She carried on shaking Denise until her eyes finally opened. Julia suddenly listened again. Something was very wrong, it was in the air. It was cold, very cold. Julia could even see her breath as she breathed out. Denise finally sat up slightly and they looked at each other.

"Juls, what's wrong?"

"Can you not sense it?

They both looked around and then they heard it, a scream. It was coming from below them. Without thinking, Julia was running out of the room with Denise right behind her. They made it to the stairs and found Joe. Julia knelt down next to him and checked his pulse. He was still alive but he seemed knocked out.

"Where did the scream come from?"

As if on cue from Denise asking, they heard it again. It was still from below them, from the basement. They had to investigate what it was.

Lauren had screamed as soon as whatever had been covering her mouth had vanished but there was little else she could do. She had been dragged into the middle of the room but then the pulling had stopped. She gasped as there was pressure around both her ankles and she was lifted up so she was hanging upside down. For a moment she spun in a circle before she heard a rustle close by.

"Hey Lauren."

She jumped and tried to look around but couldn't as she carried on idly spinning. Finally she was facing the other way and saw Jaime was stood a little way off from her. But Jaime was dead! She couldn't be here!

"He's gonna take you Lo!"

"No!"

This wasn't Jaime, it couldn't be Jaime. Jaime suddenly laughed before disappearing into thin air. Lauren held her breath as a dark shape slowly appeared. She could see it but it was constantly changing shape as if it were made of smoke. Lauren watched it as it came closer to her and then moved away, she was almost memorised by it. And then suddenly, it was flying right at her.

Julia and Denise ran into the kitchen and towards the door to the basement. She pulled on the handle but it was locked. The sound of a whimper floated up through the door. They had to get down there!

"Who do you think's down there?"

"That doesn't matter! We need the others!"

They dashed back into the hallway and shouted up the stairs until their voices were hoarse and finally Brian, Meredith and Jeff appeared. It was Lauren, Lauren was down there. The girls stayed with Joe to try and bring him round whilst Brian and Jeff started to kick the door down. Not Lauren. No!

"Hurry up! She's on her own!"

Lauren gazed straight ahead but her eyes were glazed over. All she could hear was that nursery rhyme. The dark shape had gone but it felt like something was holding her face and her hands. She wasn't scared anymore. She wasn't anything. Lauren suddenly smiled slightly, there were voices in her head but they told her not to be scared so she wasn't. However in the next second, she squeezed her eyes shut and screamed.

* * *

Brian stopped as he heard the scream. He glanced at Jeff before doubling his efforts to break the door down but then suddenly, it opened. There was a hissing in the room but it stopped as Brian took a step into the room.

"Lauren?"

There was no answer. Brian waited a moment more before slowly walking down the steps into the basement. The only light in the room came from the single bare bulb that was hanging from the ceiling. Sitting in the pool of light, facing away from him, was Lauren. Brian rushed forwards and knelt down in front of her. Lauren was just staring into space but as he rested his hand on her shoulder, she slowly looked up at him.

"Oh, hi Brian."

He stared at her, she seemed so calm. Lauren smiled at him slightly before staring into space again. Brian helped her to her feet before turning around and leading her back up the stairs. What did he say? Moments ago they had heard her screaming and now she was so quiet. They made it out into the kitchen. He stepped back as Julia rushed up to Lauren and held her.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine."

Julia stared at Lauren. How could she be fine? Lauren was smiling at her and hugged her before pulling away.

"I'm tired, I'm going to go to bed now."

Lauren skipped out of the room whilst humming Row your boat. Julia looked round at the others. What did they do now? She looked out into the hallway and saw Lauren had merely stepped over Joe and was continuing on upstairs.

"Is she possessed?"

"She's acting like Jaime."

"But she's acting like a little kid, it knows we know what it is."

They all jumped as they heard a groan and saw Joe was slowly sitting up whilst rubbing his head. The group moved over to him and checked he was okay.

"What…what happened?"

Denise held her breath like the others as Joe spoke. What had Joe seen? Did he remember what had happened? They all sat around him and there was silence for a moment.

"It…it got Lauren."

"What?"

They all rushed to make Joe sit back down as he stumbled to his feet. Denise glanced up the stairs as she heard Lauren moving around her room and still humming that song. Lauren couldn't hear them, if they were planning something she couldn't know.

"What are we gonna do?"

"We need to exorcise her."

This made them all stop. That was the only thing they could do, but that had been the thing that had killed Jaime. What if the same happened to Lauren? Denise pulled her jacket tighter around herself.

"This isn't the same as Jaime. Jaime was long gone by the time we exorcised her and there was nothing left to save."

Brian looked at each of his friends. They had to do this and they had to do it now. However Roland wasn't here now, they'd have to go it alone. But there was no other way.

"Right, here's what we're gonna do."


	17. Sickening Goodbyes

_I do not own the characters, they are based on members of Team StarKid. Any relationships stated are purely for the sake of the story and I am in no way implying that they are real._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Lauren danced idly around her room before falling backwards onto her bed. She giggled to herself before jumping up again and whirling around her room. Everything seemed so funny. She could hear little children singing and she could hear Jaime too. Jaime had such a good voice. Hearing the song made her feel like a little kid. However she came to a stop as she heard floorboards creaking from out in the hallway.

"Oh, hi!"

She smiled at Meredith and Denise but they didn't smile back. Why weren't they smiling? Everyone should smile. Everyone must smile. The three girls stared at each other for a moment and Lauren felt herself getting angry.

"Why aren't you smiling?!"

Denise held her breath as Lauren's voice became a deep growl that almost roared at them. Lauren blinked and seemed shocked at herself. Denise turned to look at Meredith. She knew the others were waiting outside but they needed the right moment.

"The screaming won't stop!"

She jumped as Lauren screamed before sinking to her knees and holding her head in her hands. Denise stood up and moved towards her but suddenly Lauren fell forwards and lay on the ground. She looked back at Meredith and they both nodded.

"NOW!"

Brian, Jeff and Joe burst into the room. They reached Lauren but she suddenly flipped over onto her back and glared at them.

"What are you doing?"

The multiple voices were back, it seemed that although there was only one demon, there were many voices it could use. Denise scrambled away, pulling Meredith with her. Julia had come in behind the boys and was stood in the doorway. Joe and Brian grabbed Lauren's arms and pulled her over to the bed.

A deep growl filled the room and it sent a shiver down Julia's spine to realise it was Lauren. Lauren was growling and spitting at the boys as they dragged her.

"She's mine!"

It broke Julia's heart to see the scene before her and for a moment she closed her eyes. This had to work. The boys had finally got Lauren lying down on the bed and Jeff moved forward and managed to get the leather straps around her wrists. A moment later the straps were tied to the posts on the headboard.

The boys stood back to take a breather but then Lauren kicked Joe. The force of the kick was so strong that Joe flew off the bed. Brian and Jeff wrestled Lauren down and tied her feet to the bedposts.

"What are you gonna do now huh? Would you really risk exorcising me again? That's what killed Jaime!"

Lauren cackled as she looked round at everyone in the room. It was all so funny! What were they doing thinking they could do anything? She squirmed and pulled against the straps. They couldn't keep her here forever but she wanted to humour them. Let them think for a moment that they actually stood a chance at winning.

"Your precious medium isn't here now, do you six really think you can do this?"

She smiled slyly as the six people in the room shuffled around and glanced up at each other. They didn't have one clue what they were doing. There was so much fear and terror in the room, humans really did wear their emotions on their sleeves. She looked up as suddenly Brian moved.

"Denise and Jeff, you drive until you get signal and call Roland, he said he was staying in town tonight."

She raised her eyebrows, so they were going to try and make this work? Denise and Jeff nodded before quickly leaving the room. Lauren couldn't doubt they were really trying but it wouldn't work. Roland was weak and plagued by the shadows of his own demons. She pulled slightly on the leather straps, she knew exactly how to pull them to make them snap completely but she wasn't going to do it just yet.

"We should take it in turns watching her."

This was the moment, she knew exactly who would offer to take the first shift and sure enough, a moment later.

"I'll do it."

Slowly, she turned and smiled at Joe as he spoke. There was a determined look on his face but she noticed this fall slightly as he glanced down at her. Human relationships were funny, how they could possibly care so much for another being. Stupidly, the others all agreed to this and slowly left the room. Lauren watched as Joe walked over to a chair by the window and sat down. He was preoccupied by looking out of the window so in one, swift movement, she pulled her arms and legs.

Joe barely had time to turn as he heard a ripping sound and then running footsteps. He turned just in time to see Lauren running towards him and pushing him to the ground. Joe tried to hold Lauren back but it felt like she weighed a tonne as she pressed into him. Her legs were pinning his thighs to the ground and Joe couldn't move from under her. His hands were wedged between his body and hers so he couldn't move anything. He glared up at her but Lauren only smiled slyly.

"Joseph Walker, the man who said he'd always protect her. Not doing a very good job now are you?"

He growled in anger but Lauren merely laughed. She lifted up her hand and played with his hair but he shook her off.

"Let. Her. Go."

"Is that what you want? It's what she wants too."

He swallowed at this. The fact that Lauren was in there and this thing knew everything that she was thinking knocked him sick. This was Lauren, his little Lolo but she was trapped inside her own head whilst something else controlled her.

"She loves you Joe, so much. I've never felt one emotion so strongly before."

Tears filled Joe's eyes and threatened to fall down his face. Lauren loved him and he loved her. He tried to look away but it seemed Lauren had seen the tears as she smiled before leaning down close to his ear. He tensed as she whispered slowly.

"But she's burning. Her soul is burning and she's screaming, Joe. Soon, there'll be nothing left to save and she'll be gone."

He tried to push Lauren off him but she felt like a dead weight. Joe stopped as Lauren lifted up her hand again and caressed his face slowly.

"She's screaming your name, she wants you to come and save her but you can't."

Suddenly Lauren rolled off him and stopped face down on the floor a short distance away from him. Joe slowly got up and walked over to her. It sounded like Lauren was crying as she lay face down. He knelt beside her and gently pulled her over.

Lauren's terrified eyes met his. She gazed up at him and seemed shocked he was there.

"Joe?"

Before Joe had time to think, Lauren had sat up and rushed into his arms. Joe clung to her as she nestled her head into his shoulder. He could feel her shaking. What had happened? Had the demon or devil or whatever he was, just gone? However what Lauren said next made his blood run cold.

"He wants us to say goodbye."

He gazed into her eyes and pulled a piece of hair behind her ear before holding her face. Someone suddenly knocked on the door.

"Joe, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, she's sleeping."

The person outside moved away, something told Joe not to tell them what was really happening, in case this was all a dream. Joe finally looked back at Lauren. She was still shaking and a tear slowly fell down her face.

"Joe, he's coming back."

He kissed her on the head and held her tightly. They rocked backwards and forwards for a moment before Lauren slowly looked up at him.

"I love you Joe and I'm sorry."

"You don't have anything to be sorry about. You're going to pull through this."

"I won't because he's going to kill me, he's gonna kill us all. I can hear him Joe."

Lauren's voice shook as she spoke. She had just suddenly come back to her senses but she could still feel the demon inside her head. Her time with Joe was running out and then she'd be gone for good.

She had been let through slightly so she could say goodbye to Joe. However this was only for the demon's own amusement as now it would be so much harder for Joe. The demon would feed off his torment. Lauren coughed out a sob at this. She had to say goodbye now because she would never ever get the chance otherwise.

"Lauren, look at me."

She blinked and looked at Joe as he held her face with both hands. Lauren realised how fast she was breathing so tried to calm herself.

"I love you and I will always love you. We're all going to make it through this and then before you know it, we'll be back home."

She wanted to believe this, she really did but Lauren found she couldn't. Lauren closed her eyes as Joe pressed his forehead to hers. Her time was almost up but there was one last thing she had to do. Lauren slowly brought her lips to Joe's and kissed him.

Their lips moved together and Lauren felt like there were fireworks exploding around them. Joe weaved his hands through her hair and held her to him. She could feel tears falling down her face but it didn't matter, not anymore.

Finally, she pulled away and looked into Joe's deep blue eyes. She could see there were tears in his eyes too but it was time now. There was screaming in her head and it felt like there was a haze in her mind.

"Goodbye Joe."

"No!"

Joe kept a hold of Lauren as she went limp in his arms. He couldn't even hear her breathing. She couldn't have. No, she couldn't be dead. Joe's vision blurred with tears as he held her to him.

"No Lauren, please."

He pulled her hair off her face and checked her pulse. But she didn't have one. Joe laid her on the ground and started giving her chest compressions. He listened again but there was nothing. Joe didn't know how to do CPR so couldn't give her mouth to mouth. She was gone.

"Guys! Help!"

Joe shouted through his tears as he gazed down at her. She was so still. The door banged open and Brian, Meredith and Julia came in. He pulled Lauren onto his lap before slowly looking up at them. They all looked shocked as they stared at the scene.

"What happened?"

"I don't know, she's just gone."

Julia rushed forward and knelt next to Joe. There were already tears falling down her face. They hadn't even had a chance to try and save her. She carefully stroked her friend's hair. She couldn't have lost another friend, not so soon. They were all supposed to have been safe now, they were meant to be going home in a few hours.

She coughed out a sob and let herself be embraced in the hug Meredith pulled her into. They all stayed in silence for a moment before Brian coughed.

"We..erm...we should put her on the bed."

They all nodded at this and Julia and Meredith stepped back so Joe could pick Lauren up, her headed lolled to the side and her arm dangled as Joe carried her. He carefully laid her down on the bed and stepped back. She couldn't have just died, could she?

* * *

They all sat downstairs in silence as they waited for Denise and Jeff to return. They had managed to get a hold of them by plugging in the phone set Brian's parents had sent for the house before they had contacted Roland to tell them they might as well come back. It was still dark outside so they all looked up as a pair of car headlights shone in through the window. The four stood up and went to meet the pair at the door.

Julia broke down into fresh tears as she saw Denise's tear stained face. The two girls hugged each other tightly before Denise pulled away slightly.

"Can I see her?"

After a moment, Julia slowly nodded. She wanted to see Lauren again but hadn't known how to bring it up so was happy Denise had. They held hands as they slowly walked towards the stairs and up to Lauren's room.

Denise took a deep breath as they stopped outside the closed door. She watched Julia as she slowly turned the handle and pushed it open. She thought she had prepared herself for what she would see but nothing could have ever prepared her for what she actually saw.

The bed was empty and there were scratch marks all over the walls. Denise slowly looked up into the corner that was directly across from them and screamed, she heard Julia scream too, for up in the corner, her fingers and toes dug into the walls to stop herself from falling...was Lauren. Her hair was covering her face but as they screamed, she looked up at them. Lauren's jet black eyes narrowed and she opened her mouth to reveal razor sharp teeth. She growled at them, just as all the lights in the house went out.


	18. Blood Soaked Warnings

_I do not own the characters, they are based on members of Team StarKid. Any relationships stated are purely for the sake of the story and I am in no way implying that they are real._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Julia held her breath as her eyes rushed to adjust to the darkness. She could hear the others downstairs as they rushed to find torches but Julia felt too scared to make even the slightest sound. She could hear Lauren breathing, her rasping breath filled the darkened room. A hand suddenly bashed into hers, Denise. Julia grabbed onto it like her life depended on it. Clouds were covering the moon so there was little light coming in from outside, Julia tried to look where she thought Lauren was but then all she heard was a soft thud.

"Lauren?"

Her voice was barely above a whisper. The floorboards in the room were creaking but she knew that both she and Denise were stood still. The sound of footsteps was getting louder and then Julia noticed a dark shape.

"The ending has only just begun."

And with that, Julia felt her hand rip out of Denise's as she was sent flying across the room. Julia landed on the bed with a thud that winded her, she tried to sit up but it felt like she couldn't move. There was a loud crash from somewhere close by and then silence. It was so quiet, suddenly, the others were screaming from downstairs. Was Lauren still in the room? It didn't feel like she was. Julia finally felt able to sit up and did so before looking around.

"Denise?"

There was a soft moan from the other side of the room. Julia strained her eyes and could just make out Denise lying on the ground by the wall. She scrambled over to her and knelt beside her.

"Are you okay?"

Denise opened her eyes slightly. She could just make out Julia above her but her head felt so groggy. Her back and head hurt, which she guessed was from the impact of her hitting the wall. How had Lauren moved them? She hadn't even touched them. After a moment, she slowly sat up and rubbed her head. They both turned as there was more screaming from downstairs. They had to help the others! However, something caught Denise's attention outside, there was a flash of headlights heading towards the house.

* * *

Roland got out of the car as soon as Tom stopped and looked around. Something was wrong, something was very wrong. The air was almost thick with an evil presence. The demon was still here. He'd gotten a feeling that something was wrong so had contacted Tom and managed to convince him to come straight over. He looked over at Tom who was staring up at the house too.

"Come on."

He pushed on up to the house and knocked on the door. Roland looked back at Tom who seemed very nervous about the whole thing. There was no answer so he knocked again and still no answer.

"We need to get inside."

"We don't have a warrant."

"I think this counts as special circumstances."

And with that, Roland took a few steps back and ran at the door. He bashed through it and into the darkened hallway. There was a soft growl from the stairs and as Roland shone is torch in that direction, he gasped. Lauren was sitting cross legged on the floor facing them. It seemed she had been scratching something into the floorboards as her fingertips where covered in blood. There was silence in the house, where were the others? He turned to look at Tom as he heard a soft click. Tom was holding a gun up at Lauren.

"Don't shoot."

He spoke in a hurried whisper but he knew Lauren heard as she smiled and titled her head to the side. The demon had caused her physical change, but how was that possible? How had her eyes gone to being completely black? How had her teeth changed? This was no ordinary demon, maybe this was the devil himself...

"What are you going to do Tom? You shoot me and you kill an innocent person with no guarantee it'll stop me. Or you don't shoot me and I rip your head off."

A shiver went down his spine. They had to keep the demon talking. Violence wasn't the way, it would only make things worse.

"Where are the others?"

"They're all sleeping, they'll wake up when I tell them to."

"What do you want?"

"For humans to be finally put in their rightful place."

Both Roland and Tom took a step back as in one, swift movement, Lauren stood up. She took a few steps towards them and stopped.

"Have you ever used that gun Tom? Have you ever killed someone? Do you know what it's like to watch someone's life drain from their eyes?"

Tom was still pointing the gun but Roland could see he was shaking. Lauren took another step towards them and Roland jumped as there was suddenly a loud bang. Tom had shot at Lauren. Roland stared as a red stain appeared on Lauren's stomach. She slowly looked down at it and held her hand over the wound before lifting it up to her face. How was she still able to stand up? She didn't even seem to be in pain.

"Oops, it looks like I was telling a few little white lies. Stupid little gun shots aren't going to stop me..."

Lauren flicked her hand and the gun flew out of Tom's hand. She smiled slightly as she took a step towards them. However then Roland matched her step and started talking. He spoke in Latin and demanded Lauren be left alone. There was such power and passion behind his words that Lauren had to take a step back and then suddenly, she fell to her knees. What was happening? This wasn't meant to happen!

Just as she was about to fall to the ground, Roland rushed forward and pushed her down. He held her to the ground and took her face in his hands.

"Get her arms!"

He seemed to almost shout in slow motion. Lauren felt so funny. No...he couldn't be exorcising her...could he? She looked round as Tom knelt down beside her and held her arms down. She tried to move her legs but couldn't, Roland was still muttering in Latin and it was making her feel so weak. There were shouts from close by, the others were waking, she couldn't keep them asleep.

"Lauren, can you hear me?"

She gazed up at Roland as he looked into her eyes. He was calling to Lauren. The demon could feel Lauren's subconscious stirring as she strained to answer Roland. No! The demon tried to push her back but as Roland started to speak in Latin again, she finally broke through.

"H-help."

"Okay Lauren I need you to stay with us."

Meredith rubbed her head as she stumbled into the hallway. As she took in the scene before her, she stopped, were they exorcising Lauren? Why was Lauren covered in blood? She watched as the blackness in her eyes slowly dissolved to reveal Lauren's deep brown ones. Her teeth weren't as sharp anymore.

"He's...here..."

That was Lauren's voice. Meredith crept forward and knelt down beside Lauren. She glanced up and saw Brian, Jeff and Joe and then turned to see Denise and Julia on the stairs. It was almost over...almost over.

"Lauren, you need to fight him. You can do this!"

Suddenly, Lauren screamed and burst into tears. Everyone rushed forward but Roland warned them all to stay back. In the next second, Roland, Tom and Meredith were being pulled away by some unseen force. Lauren was arching her back up and her hands and feet were clenched.

"He won't leave! It's like my mind is burning!"

Joe tried to step forward but something pushed him back. He had to reach her, she couldn't be alone, not now. It looked like something was pulling her up from her waist as, as she arched her back more, she was suddenly lifted off the ground. She hovered in the air for a moment before her eyes widened.

"I know what I need to do, just what Nell did."

No, Nell had killed herself. Lauren couldn't kill herself. Joe felt himself start to shake. He couldn't lose her.

"Please Lauren."

He coughed out the words but Lauren still heard him. She slowly turned and met his eyes. They gazed at each other for a moment before Lauren slowly opened her mouth.

"I'm already gone."

She suddenly tensed her whole back. Sickening cracking sounds filled the room. Joe watched as Lauren slowly placed her hands on either side of her head. He knew what she was going to do, he couldn't let her do that! He tried to move forward but it felt like a hand was pushing him back, the others tried to do the same but there seemed to be an almost barrier between them and Lauren. Joe could only watch in anguish as Lauren stared up at the ceiling, before pulling her head round to one side. There was a loud crack as her neck snapped.

"NO!"

Denise rushed forward as Joe fell to the floor. Lauren had fallen almost the same time he had and landed with a loud thud. She couldn't bring herself to look at Lauren so she focused all she had on Joe. He was sobbing and trying to crawl towards Lauren but both she and Julia held him back. The lights flickered back on and for the first time, they could see what Lauren had scratched into the floor. 'The third act starts NOW.' What could that mean? Denise couldn't thick on it now. She had to concentrate on Joe.

"The demon's gone."

"Gone?"

"Yeah, I can't feel anything, this house is empty."

She looked around the hallway before finally bringing her eyes to Lauren. So Lauren had done it. She'd sacrificed herself to defeat the demon. They were all finally safe.


	19. The Morning After

_I do not own the characters, they are based on members of Team StarKid. Any relationships stated are purely for the sake of the story and I am in no way implying that they are real._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Julia wrapped her blanket tighter around herself. The police had swarmed the house once more and the remaining StarKids were huddled in the sitting room, all except for Joe. He had refused to leave Lauren's side. Brian and Meredith were sat on the sofa with their arms tightly around each other. Denise was sat on the floor whilst staring into space but Julia watched her look up as Jeff sat down next to her.

Things were different this time. Tom had seen what had happened and was the sheriff of the town. People were a lot more likely to believe him. Julia looked up as she heard his voice drift in from the hallway. It seemed they were ready to take Lauren's body away. It was all over, but she had lost two of her closest friends. She finally did feel safe but Julia was in such a state of shock that it felt like she couldn't process what had happened, she couldn't believe what had happened. Not yet...maybe not ever...

* * *

The StarKids barely slept at all once all the police had left. They spent their time packing so that they could leave as soon as dawn broke. There was nothing left for them here anymore and the sooner they got away, the better. Brian busied himself by folding up his shirts and placing them into his suitcase. The house did feel calm now, but it almost felt like the calm before the storm... He pushed the thought from his mind as Meredith appeared in the doorway.

"What are you going to tell your parents?"

"What can we tell them? We can't tell them the truth."

He watched as Meredith slowly nodded at this. What could he tell his parents? Brian knew he had to urge them to sell the property but how easy would that be once everyone in the area knew what happened here? With a sigh, he put down the shirt he was holding and walked over to Meredith. He looped his arms around her waist and kissed her on the head. They stood in silence for a moment and Brian closed his eyes and he listened to Meredith's breathing.

The sun was barely above the horizon and the StarKids were all already packed up to leave. Brian carried out a box to the car and put it in the trunk. He glanced at Jaime's flower print suitcase, they had packed up all of Jaime and Lauren's belongings as they couldn't just leave them here. He sighed as he looked back up at the house. The others were all slowly making their way out and over to his car or Denise's. Finally, it seemed that everyone was out except for Denise. He waited a moment before slowly walking back up the steps.

Brian found Denise in the sitting room. She was staring up at the old photo that they never had gotten round to taking down. He walked up and stood beside her.

"Do you think they left in the same hurry we did?"

"Probably, I can't see anyone wanting to stick around here."

He had to agree with her on that. The location of this house was beautiful, the house, albeit rundown was beautiful but to have lived through what they had. It had taken on a veil of dread that would never lift. Brian turned to Denise as he sensed her looking at him.

"Well at least it's all over now."

"Yeah...it is."

He smiled slightly as Denise smiled at him before watching her leave the room. Brian looked around the room once more before slowly following her.

Denise slowly walked out to the car and got in. She watched as a moment later, Brian came out and locked the door behind him. They were finally leaving. She glanced at Jeff and found he was staring straight ahead, seemingly in his own world. As she looked in the rear-view mirror, she saw Joe was leaning his head against the window and already had his earphones in. He seemed so broken. Joe hadn't spoken to any of them since Lauren had died.

"I can't believe we're finally leaving."

She blinked as Jeff spoke softly. Denise couldn't believe it either. It felt like they had been here for so long. She started the car as Brian set off down the drive and followed behind him. They drove out onto the road and stopped again so Meredith could go and look the gates so no unwitting person could stumble into that hell hole.

* * *

They had been driving for a few hours when Denise glanced at Jeff. He had fallen asleep. Joe was still staring out of the window with his earphones in. It really was sad…what he had gone through. How the demon had let Lauren through just so he could watch as that interaction made Joe crumble…The last thing the real Lauren had done was kiss him…what must he be going through?

Denise smiled to herself. He was going through hell. She gazed out of the window at the road ahead. This had all been too easy. That stupid medium saying he was gone. He just wasn't looking in the right place… She smiled a sly smile as she slowly started to sing under her breath.

"Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily life is but a dream…"


	20. Epilogue

_I do not own the characters, they are based on members of Team StarKid. Any relationships stated are purely for the sake of the story and I am in no way implying that they are real._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

In the following weeks, the local police launched an investigation into just what happened at The Willows. However it surprised everyone when the FBI stepped in and took over the whole investigation. They came to Chicago and interviewed the StarKids and then warned them not to tell anyone what had really happened in the house. The autopsy reports were released a week after they left the house and these also covered up what had happened. Jaime had suffered a sudden and unexpected epileptic fit which had triggered a fatal heart attack. Henry, finally overcome by years of guilt of feeling his wife's death was his fault, had strangled himself. No report ever mentioned just how he strangled himself. The autopsy report said Lauren had tripped and fatally fallen down the stairs.

There was no mention of the exorcisms or any supernatural elements in the reports. The StarKids had merely suffered a series of unfortunate events. Stories were told and debated but no one ever found out the full truth.

Two weeks after they left, a fire devastated the house. The damage was so bad that there was no other option but to pull it down. It was never decided if the fire was an accident or if it was started deliberately.

Joe never told anyone about the conversation where he said goodbye to Lauren. People asked him why he thought she was dead when she hadn't been but he never told them anything.

After the house burnt down, Brian urged his parents to cut their losses and sell the land, which as soon as the wreckage of the house was gone, they did. He never told even them just what happened in the house they bought as a vacation home.

It was a few months later when they noticed Denise was acting strangely. She would disappear for days at a time and have no memory of what she had done. She knew things that she shouldn't have known about what had happened. And then one day…she disappeared altogether. She didn't take any of her belongings, not even her phone, she just took her car…and left. She hasn't been seen since…


End file.
